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Severe threat april 14, Tornado outbreak possible


janetjanet998

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To me this is one of the better setups of the whole year for a tornado outbreak. All the other systems have seemed too progressive and the upper support seemed to lag behind the surface low.

THIS on the other hand seems to be a much better setup. Question will be to watch the moisture return over the next 24 hours. If the dewpoints come up and there is not the super-cap that they have been having recently, this could get very nasty.

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Both the 12z NAM/GFS break out convection, so it looks like no capping issues, however..... GFS breaks out convection a lot earlier in the day and has been over the past few days of model runs. Springfield actually preferred the GFS moisture return over the NAM due to how rapidly moisture should transport north once this thing starts wrapping up. I did notice the GFS did back off a bit on moisture return while the NAM increased a bit, so maybe they are coming to a consensus.

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While there's certainly a significant threat over much of eastern OK, I almost feel like the most sure-fire bet for tornadoes may be the bent-back area in central KS where even purely meridional H5 flow will have a significant component normal to the dryline. Right now, directional shear in the richer moisture over OK and N TX looks sufficient for tornadic supercells, but dProg/dT makes that aspect of the setup a question in my mind.

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While there's certainly a significant threat over much of eastern OK, I almost feel like the most sure-fire bet for tornadoes may be the bent-back area in central KS where even purely meridional H5 flow will have a significant component normal to the dryline. Right now, directional shear in the richer moisture over OK and N TX looks sufficient for tornadic supercells, but dProg/dT makes that aspect of the setup a question in my mind.

I tend to agree with you on this.

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Just my two cents...

With the NAM/SREF showing more impressive parameters father into AR than previous runs, I think it would be feasible to suggest that a greater tornado risk could occur farther east into AR than the current Day 2 suggests and the MDT risk should be expanded a bit east. This could be a rather dangerous situation since the most significant threat appears to be after dark...

NAM Surface LCL:

EHI:

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i wish i had more time to chase...tomorrow would be a good day to take the short trip down to the mod risk zone, but i am tied up all day. i wonder what kind of weirdness i'll get as i sit the NE of the low...i get the squall line on the NAM, so i guess that would be better than nothing.

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i wish i had more time to chase...tomorrow would be a good day to take the short trip down to the mod risk zone, but i am tied up all day. i wonder what kind of weirdness i'll get as i sit the NE of the low...i get the squall line on the NAM, so i guess that would be better than nothing.

You may get some nados/landspouts embedded in that or something. I'm curious to see tonight and of course tomorrows model runs.

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Yeah I could see a potential like JoMo stated playing out, which is somewhat common in Kansas.

this afternoon's AFD is mildly intriguing...the mention of NNW moving supercells gives me a little hope for some local action

THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE WILL CONTINUETO DEEPEN OVER SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS ON THURSDAY. WHILEMOISTURE WILL BE STREAMING NORTH...THE TRUE WARM SECTOR WILL ONLYSEE SURFACE DEWPOINTS IN THE UPPER 50S OVER PARTS OF THE FORECASTAREA. IN ADDITION...THE WARM SECTOR IS EXPECTED TO BE QUITENARROW...ON THE ORDER OF 75 TO 150 MILES. VERY COLD MID LEVEL TEMPSWITH STEEP LAPSE RATES WILL OVERTAKE THE AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON WITHFAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR SEVERE WEATHER. IN TERMS OF MODELPREFERENCE...PREFER THE HIGHER RESOLUTION OF FEATURES GIVEN BY THENAM...ALTHOUGH DEWPOINTS MAY BE OVERDONE JUST A TAD.HOWEVER...PREFER THE TRACK OF THE LOW TO BE CLOSER TO THAT OF THEECMWF AND GFS...POTENTIALLY BRINGING THE WARM SECTOR JUST A BITFARTHER NORTH.THAT SAID...EXPECT AN INITIAL ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP OVERCENTRAL KANSAS AND MOVE ALMOST DUE NORTH INTO PARTS OF THE FORECASTAREA. FORECAST SOUNDINGS BY NOON TO 2 PM INDICATE SURFACE BASEDINSTABILITY WITH AMPLE SHEAR IN THE LOW LEVELS AND FAIRLY LOW LFC`S.THAT SAID...INITIAL STORMS IN THIS AREA MAY BE SEVERE WITH SOMETORNADIC THREAT EARLY GIVEN THE QUALITY OF LOW LEVEL SHEAR. THISROUND OF STORMS SHOULD MOVE NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA AND WEAKEN ABIT BY MID AFTERNOON.A BROKEN LINE OF SUPERCELLS IS THEN EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTHCENTRAL KANSAS AND SLOWLY TREK NORTHEAST WITH THE WARM SECTOR.INDIVIDUAL STORM MOTION SHOULD RANGE FROM NNW TO NE DEPENDING ONLOCATION IN RELATION TO THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE. SHEAR AND LAPSERATES WILL BE IMPRESSIVE IN AND NEAR THE WARM SECTOR...BUTINSTABILITY WILL QUICKLY DIMINISH FARTHER TO THE NORTHEAST. THOSESTORMS THAT CAN REMAIN IN THE INSTABILITY AXIS FOR THE LONGEST WILLSEE A GOOD CHANCE OF PRODUCING SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING VERY LARGEHAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND TORNADOES. THE PRIMARY UNCERTAINTY IS INJUST HOW FAR NORTH THE INSTABILITY AXIS EXTENDS INTO THE FORECASTAREA. STORMS WILL TAPER A BIT IN INTENSITY AS THE CONGEAL AND CINHINCREASES AFTER AROUND 10 PM...AND ANY SEVERE WEATHER WILL LIKELY

PUSH EAST OF THE AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT.

p.s.--lol cut and paste

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this afternoon's AFD is mildly intriguing...the mention of NNW moving supercells gives me a little hope for some local action

p.s.--lol cut and paste

Yeah normally you get a nice shear axis moving Northward in these types of setups, sometimes you can really yield on them.

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Just diving into the forecast to my west now that I have updated the forecast for a cold rain here back east.

Things still looking on track, including the impressive signals for significant hail.

Here is an example from the 18z GFS valid at 00z Friday. The image is SBCAPE (generally 1000-2000 J/kg where it is orange), with CAPE in the -10 to -30 C layer (hail growth zone) in blue and freezing level in green. Again almost half the SBCAPE is located in the hail growth zone (about 700-1000 J/kg) with freezing levels between 9 and 11kft. Prime for large and significant hail, and still 50 dBZ cores are only going to need to reach around 29kft to produce severe hail.

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i wish i had more time to chase...tomorrow would be a good day to take the short trip down to the mod risk zone, but i am tied up all day. i wonder what kind of weirdness i'll get as i sit the NE of the low...i get the squall line on the NAM, so i guess that would be better than nothing.

Depending on the exact track of the low, I can see your area getting in on some pseudo cold-core type action mid-late afternoon, though the best chances will probably be a bit to your S. I'm fully expecting some tornado reports inside an ICT-RSL-EMP polygon during the 3-6pm window.

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Another thing I like to look at, especially in regards to regional severe weather as opposed to specific targets, is 0-4km thetae lapse rates and jet level wind speed. Generally speaking 0-4km encompasses the surface to 600 mb layer, and gives you an idea of low/mid level instability. Being able to toggle that with the jet stream gives you an idea of both divergence for lift and speed for shear. Here is an example from the 12z NAM. Values greater than about -4 C/km (red and left on the scale at the top left) are more favorable. You can see the NAM is forecasting some of the best thetae lapse rates I've seen this year, at almost -7 C/km.

Over the top of that you have a strong jet streak, approaching 100 knots. We already know about the forecast shear and intense vertical motions that are going to result from this.

The GFS forecast for thetae lapse rates is a little closer to -4 C/km, and I'm guessing that is mostly due to the fact that is has ongoing precip at 00z that is cutting down on the values.

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