Area Forecast Discussion

The NWS office in Wakefield issues an area forecast discussion (AFD) which describes expected short term conditions within the county warning area. The AFD is generally divided into three sections with a brief description of each...
An analysis section....which describes the most recent trends in surface and upper air data as well as radar and satellite imagery.
A discussion section...which describes key features to affect the county warning area and assesses numerical model trends associated with these features through 48 hours.
A recommendations section...which provides a recommendation for changes to the zone forecast out to 48 hours based on the reasoning in the discussion section to the parent Weather Service Forecast Office (in our case the NWSFO in Sterling, Virginia).

Click here to access the latest Area Forecast Discussion from the National Weather Service Office in Wakefield, VA.

Click here to see definitions of contractions commonly used by forecasters when composing AFD's.