907 
FXUS63 KDMX 152003
AFDDMX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Des Moines IA
203 PM CST Sat Nov 15 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Warm and breezy today, then cooler and calm on Sunday

- Precipitation chances returning late Monday, especially north
  and east. Mostly rain initially, with some drizzle potential 
  overnight into Tuesday. 

- Mild temperatures continue, with more precipitation chances 
  second half of next week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 156 PM CST Sat Nov 15 2025


<< WARM & BREEZY TODAY, COOLER & CALM SUNDAY >> 

The surface cold front has made most of it's way through the state 
today, with the secondary trough just now entering northern Iowa. 
This will continue to drop southward as the surface low over the 
Great Lakes region keeps on eastward and surface high currently over 
Montana and the Dakotas begins to fill in over the state tonight. 
With the tighter pressure gradients and cold air advection in place 
overhead, breezy winds are expected to persist this afternoon and 
evening. Gusts of 20 to 25 mph are expected, with a few areas in 
northeastern Iowa gusting near 30 mph this afternoon. 

Gusts will diminish tonight as the surface decouples and the 
pressure gradient lessens, but sustained winds will remain around 5 
to 10 mph through roughly midnight. However, as the high pressure 
continues to push in overhead, winds will fall to around and below 5 
mph into the morning hours, especially west. Calmer winds in 
conjunction with the drier dewpoints, could allow for efficient 
radiational cooling overnight, but will be dependent on skies 
remaining clear as well. A deck of low level clouds will move in 
with the high, mainly impacting western Iowa, likely keeping low 
temperatures from plummeting beneath. It will be areas on the 
eastern fringe of this cloud deck, where winds are still light but 
skies are clear, that could see temperatures drop rapidly on Sunday 
morning. High pressure then dictates the weather on Sunday, with 
partly cloudy skies, light winds, and mild temperatures in the 40s 
and 50s. 


<< MONDAY NIGHT RAIN, DRIZZLE POTENTIAL >> 

The high pressure and quiet conditions on Sunday will be short-
lived, as 500 mb ridging develops ahead of an approaching shortwave 
on Monday. As mentioned in prior discussions, this lobe of 
energy will originate from the closed 500 mb low currently off 
the coast of California, which is producing wet, soggy 
conditions for our friends from eastern Iowa currently visiting 
Los Angeles Memorial Stadium. As this system makes it's way onto
the main land, it splits into two shortwaves, one of which 
tracks northward through the Rockies and the other more east 
northeastward across the Rockies, through the Plains and 
eventually into Iowa. This system will bring the return of 
precipitation chances to the area, mostly in the form of rain 
for our forecast area. With the system trending more dynamic and
slightly farther north, warmer air is being pulled up into the 
state, keeping temperatures warm enough to negate snowfall, 
aside from far northern Iowa. However, even in northern and 
northeastern Iowa where low level temperatures are cooler, both 
deterministic and ensemble soundings show a persistent warm nose
around 2 to 4 C that will work to melt any snowflakes that fall
through it. There could be an occasional wintry mix as the 
profiles saturate and cool, as melted snow refreezes below the 
warm layer, but even then current soundings would still favor a 
cold rain over frozen precipitation. 

Rain chances look to be most likely along the initial wing of 
increasing theta-e and as the low level moisture phases with the 
upper level moisture. This will be occurring late Monday into early 
Tuesday. However, while the phasing of the two moisture streams 
seems fairly limited in time and space on Monday night, there also 
looks to be a strong push of low level moisture with a 1 to 2 km 
saturated layer showing up at times in model soundings. Although 
lift isnt great through this saturated layer, this would imply the 
potential for occasional drizzle throughout central Iowa
overnight Monday into Tuesday morning. With the warmer trend, 
surface temperatures should remain above freezing in most areas,
but a few degrees cooler in northern Iowa could lead to some 
freezing drizzle potential on Tuesday morning. 


<< WORK WEEK FORECAST >> 
The forecast will be relatively active through the rest of next
week, with a brief break from precipitation during the day
Wednesday. However, a southern stream 500 mb trough builds in 
the western CONUS before lifting northward into the midwest, 
bringing another potential for precipitation late Wednesday
through Thursday and Friday. Early indications suggest mostly
rain with this system, as the colder air is wrapped up in a 
northern stream wave passing through Canada. However, this is 
still over 5 days out, so will want to watch how these southern
and northern stream troughs interact and for any trend toward 
colder temperatures, especially wrapping around the backside of 
the southern stream wave. 


&&

.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/...
Issued at 1159 AM CST Sat Nov 15 2025

VFR through the entire period. Breezy northwest winds will persist 
through the rest of this afternoon with gusts between 20-30kts. 
Winds speeds are expected to weaken after sunset once the remnant 
mid-level wave departs to our southeast. Some moisture advection is 
expected to occur aloft later this evening which could aid in the 
development of some mid-level sct cigs tonight. A few sites could 
see sct cigs reach low-VFR early tomorrow morning however 
reduction in flight categories are not expected. Winds tomorrow 
morning will remain light near 5kts in the NNW.

&&

.DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...Dodson
AVIATION...Dunleavy