NOTE: Some of the data on this page has not been verified and should be used with that in mind. It may and occasionally will, be wrong. The tide reports are by xtide and are NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Privacy and Cookie policy

AMZ250 Coastal Waters From Surf City To Cape Fear Nc Out 20 Nm- 934 Pm Est Thu Dec 7 2023
Overnight..W winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft.
Fri..W winds 10 kt. Seas 2 ft.
Fri night..SW winds 10 to 15 kt. Gusts up to 20 kt in the evening. Seas 2 ft. A slight chance of showers after midnight.
Sat..W winds 10 kt, becoming S in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A chance of showers, mainly in the morning.
Sat night..S winds 10 to 15 kt, increasing to 15 to 20 kt after midnight. Gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft. A chance of showers after midnight.
Sun..S winds 20 to 25 kt, increasing to 25 to 30 kt in the afternoon. Seas 5 to 7 ft, building to 6 to 9 ft in the afternoon. Showers likely in the morning, then showers with a chance of tstms in the afternoon.
Sun night..SW winds 25 to 30 kt, becoming W after midnight. Gusts up to 40 kt. Seas 7 to 10 ft. Showers and tstms in the evening, then a chance of showers after midnight.
Mon..NW winds 20 to 25 kt, becoming N 15 to 20 kt. Seas 5 to 8 ft, subsiding to 4 to 6 ft.
Tue..NE winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft.
winds and seas higher in and near tstms.

AMZ200 934 Pm Est Thu Dec 7 2023
Synopsis for coastal waters from surf city north carolina to south santee river south carolina out to 20 nautical miles.. High pressure over the southeast will shift farther off the coast tonight into the weekend. Hazardous conditions are expected with a cold front on Sunday with improving conditions Monday.

FXUS62 KILM 080229 AFDILM

Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wilmington NC 929 PM EST Thu Dec 7 2023

SYNOPSIS
Warming trend through the weekend as high pressure shifts farther off the Southeast coast. A cold front will bring an unsettled Sunday that will include heavy rain, gusty winds, and perhaps some thunder. High pressure builds in behind the cold front for the first half of next week, bringing cool and dry weather once again.

UPDATE
Only minor tweaks needed for evening update, mainly to account for some areas that have cooled off a bit quicker than expected and others where wind has helped stave off the post sunset tumbling of temps. Forecast thinking remains unchanged.

NEAR TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/
High pressure will makes its way off the Southeast coast into tonight. This will allow winds to back from W to WSW but flow remains very light. Overall, the air mass will begin to modify, but with very light winds and mainly clear skies, expect atmosphere to decouple and temps to drop off quickly after sunset. Should see some cirrus streaming in by morning, but overall mainly clear and cold tonight with temps dropping into the mid 30s most places, but traditionally cooler or wind sheltered places should drop down to freezing.

Air mass will continue to modify in a SW return flow into Friday. After a cold start, temps will rebound from the mid 30s up to the 60s, reaching about 10 degrees warmer than today.
Soundings show upper level moisture increasing through Fri afternoon as cirrus increases. Winds will continue to remain rather light as they back to the SW to S into late Fri. Overall, a dry day with temps reaching up slightly above normal.

SHORT TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/
Warm weather on tap for the period as high pressure offshore provides return flow. Friday night lows in the upper 40s are about 10 degrees above climatology. The continued warm advection and increase in clouds will bring lows that are 20 above normal Saturday night. In between Saturday will be a pleasantly warm afternoon with highs in the low 70s as sunshine mixes with increasing clouds at 3kft and perhaps the cirrus level.

LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/
An active Sunday in store as a strong upper level system drives a cold front into the Carolinas. The activity may start as light rain in the prefrontal isentropic upglide. Later in the afternoon and early into the evening ascent will be much more dynamic as mid level height falls begin to impinge from the west. The PVA will also become quite strong but it does appear to lag into the early part of Sunday night. Late afternoon/early evening is also when the area finds itself in the ageostrophic divergence associated with the right entrance of a 145kt jet streak. In fact BUFKIT soundings imply vertical motion through just about the entire depth of the troposphere around 00Z. Rain will almost certainly be heavy at times but a rapid progression overall will minimize flooding potential if not preclude it altogether. Instability appears to be the main factor that will modulate our severe weather threat, and it tends to be hard to come by during these shortest days of the year. That said, forecast soundings are showing more than yesterday and imply that SBCAPE could get as high at 1000J/Kg. Even if this doesn't pan out there is good agreement that 925mb winds crank up to 50kt, which could very well be the gusts in heavier areas of rain even in the absence of lightning.

Cold advection behind this system brings temperatures closer to climatology Sunday night. High pressure builds in thereafter keeping mixing shallow for a couple of days/nights about a category below normal. Late in the period the high weakens, there is no thermal advection to speak of so we just add a few degrees thanks to solar modification of the airmass, and the area remains rain-free.

AVIATION /02Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/
VFR through 00Z Fri with light westerly winds backing to southwest Fri afternoon.

Extended Outlook...MVFR ceilings possible Friday night but more likely late Saturday night through Sunday night. IFR to VLIFR conditions possible with any storms Sunday into Sunday night.
Winds will also be strong/gusty Sunday and Sunday night.

MARINE
Through Friday...Quiet marine conditions will continue as high pressure makes its way farther off the Southeast coast tonight through Fri night. W winds will back to the SW and then more southerly by later on Fri, but will remain 3 ft or less with a minimal easterly swell mixing in.

Friday night through Tuesday...
Friday night through early Saturday night bring calm weather and small seas as only the diminutive wind waves expected. The latter part of Saturday night will see an increase in winds as a cold front approaches from the west. Sunday will then bring a rapid and considerable deterioration of conditions as the upper level support for ascent increases. Winds build into higher end advisory levels and gale force gusts appear likely. Should models continue to advertise 50kt as low as 925mb then a Gale Watch may be in order. Wind will veer to the NW behind the front Sunday night including through the 925mb layer. This may still allow for significant momentum transfer until this jetting begins to relax after about 06Z or so. Northerly winds slated for the remainder of the period as high pressure remains centered to our west.

ILM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
SC...None.
NC...None.
MARINE...None.

toggle option: (graph/table)

Campbell Island
Click for Map
Thu -- 01:41 AM EST     Moonrise
Thu -- 04:26 AM EST     3.54 feet High Tide
Thu -- 07:04 AM EST     Sunrise
Thu -- 10:48 AM EST     0.33 feet Low Tide
Thu -- 01:44 PM EST     Moonset
Thu -- 04:36 PM EST     3.52 feet High Tide
Thu -- 05:02 PM EST     Sunset
Thu -- 11:14 PM EST     0.18 feet Low Tide
Tide / Current data from XTide NOT FOR NAVIGATION

Campbell Island, North Carolina, Tide feet

Orton Point
Click for Map
Thu -- 01:41 AM EST     Moonrise
Thu -- 04:37 AM EST     3.74 feet High Tide
Thu -- 07:03 AM EST     Sunrise
Thu -- 10:35 AM EST     0.38 feet Low Tide
Thu -- 01:44 PM EST     Moonset
Thu -- 04:47 PM EST     3.71 feet High Tide
Thu -- 05:02 PM EST     Sunset
Thu -- 11:01 PM EST     0.20 feet Low Tide
Tide / Current data from XTide NOT FOR NAVIGATION

Orton Point, North Carolina, Tide feet

Full Color Weather Map

Link to Loop


Other links: GEOS-West     Contential US     Full GOES-East

Wilmington, NC,