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March 12 Severe Weather Potential


Hoosier

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Don't feel like posting a writeup but to me this looks like a slight risk event for parts of the Lakes, maybe as early as the new day 2 outlook although there are some lingering model differences in terms of instability and location of the best threat.

Here is a NAM forecast sounding for Gary Indiana valid 00z Tue

post-14-0-90408100-1331442977.png

At this time, main threats with this event look to be hail/damaging winds, but some isolated tornadoes may also be possible.

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Don't feel like posting a writeup but to me this looks like a slight risk event for parts of the Lakes, maybe as early as the new day 2 outlook although there are some lingering model differences in terms of instability and location of the best threat.

Here is a NAM forecast sounding for Gary Indiana valid 00z Tue

post-14-0-90408100-1331442977.png

At this time, main threats with this event look to be hail/damaging winds, but some isolated tornadoes may also be possible.

I would agree on all accounts here. I think the GFS's climo bias is playing havoc with the temp/dew profile for this, and being that it is early season convective I would be riding the NAM/Euro on this, both of which have done very will with respect to the last few events in the region.

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SPC holding off

DAY 2 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

1124 PM CST SAT MAR 10 2012

VALID 121200Z - 131200Z

..NO SVR TSTM AREAS FORECAST

..GREAT LAKES

LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE REMAINS QUITE CONSISTENT REGARDING THE INTENSE MID LEVEL HEIGHT FALLS THAT WILL OVERSPREAD THE MID/UPPER MS VALLEY REGION INTO THE GREAT LAKES WHERE 12HR VALUES WILL APPROACH 150-180M EARLY IN THE PERIOD. THE RESPONSIBLE SHORT-WAVE TROUGH WILL EXTEND FROM THE U.P. OF MI...SWD INTO EXTREME NRN IND BY 13/00Z WITH A FOCUSED SPEED MAX ORIENTED SW-NE ACROSS LOWER MI. NAM IS THE MOST AGGRESSIVE MODEL REGARDING DESTABILIZATION NORTH OF THE JET...ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE EXPECTED SFC HEATING AHEAD OF WIND SHIFT THAT WILL BE JUXTAPOSED BENEATH THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS. IF BOUNDARY LAYER CAN HEAT AS SUGGESTED BY THE NAM WITH READINGS INTO THE LOW-MID 60S THEN STEEP LAPSE RATES COULD SUPPORT A FEW ROBUST UPDRAFTS WITHIN AN OTHERWISE STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT. THE LOW PROBABILITY FOR SEVERE TSTMS IS PREDICATED ON STRONG SFC HEATING PROVIDING ENOUGH BUOYANCY FOR SFC-BASED ACTIVITY PRIMARILY BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 20-00Z.

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day2.prob.gif

...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM NERN IL INTO MUCH OF LOWER

MI...

..SYNOPSIS

A POTENT UPPER LOW WILL MOVE FROM IA/MN NEWD TOWARD LAKE SUPERIOR BY

00Z WITH A 70+ KT MIDLEVEL SPEED MAX AND SUBSTANTIAL HEIGHT FALLS

SPREADING INTO LOWER MI. AT THE SURFACE...A BROAD LOW PRESSURE

TROUGH WILL EXTEND FROM WRN WI INTO NRN IL BY AFTERNOON...PUSHING

INTO LOWER MI THROUGH EARLY EVENING. THIS TROUGH WILL SERVE AS A

FOCUS FOR SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT.

TO THE S...A TRAILING FRONT WILL STALL FROM ERN MO INTO AR AND NRN

TX. E OF THIS FRONT OVER THE WARM SECTOR...SLY LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL

HELP BRING MID TO UPPER 50S F DEWPOINTS AS FAR N AS CHICAGO...WITH

LOWER 60S F INTO THE LOWER OH VALLEY.

..NERN IL/SERN WI INTO LOWER MI

WIDESPREAD MORNING RAIN WILL LIKELY EXIST FROM LOWER MI INTO

IND...OH...AND ERN KY/TN ASSOCIATED WITH LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION.

THIS ACTIVITY SHOULD LIFT RAPIDLY NEWD AS THE DRY SLOT SPREADS OVER

MUCH OF IL AND IND BY MIDDAY. WITH COOL TEMPERATURES ALOFT AND

DAYTIME HEATING...LAPSE RATE PROFILES WILL BE RELATIVELY STEEP...AND

LITTLE CONVECTIVE INHIBITION SHOULD EXIST BY AFTERNOON.

THERE ARE MODEL DIFFERENCES THAT LEND A DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY TO

THIS SEVERE SCENARIO. FOR EXAMPLE...THE GFS MODEL SUGGESTS MUCH LESS

INSTABILITY...AND FASTER VEERING OF THE LOW LEVEL FLOW...RESULTING

IN VERY LITTLE SEVERE THREAT OVER IL...AND PERHAPS ONLY ISOLATED

INTO LOWER MI. HOWEVER...THE NAM/NAMKF SOLUTIONS INDICATE A

SUBSTANTIAL THREAT OF SUPERCELLS...INCLUDING LARGE HAIL AND

TORNADOES.

GIVEN STRONG FORCING WITH THE UPPER SYSTEM...AT LEAST ISOLATED

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS APPEAR LIKELY...ALONG AND JUST AHEAD OF THE

DEVELOPING SYNOPTIC COLD FRONT. TIMING OF SEVERE WEATHER WOULD BEGIN

NEAR 21Z SRN WI/NRN IL...AND WOULD CONTINUE THROUGH ABOUT 03Z INTO

LOWER MI.

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http://hp6.wright-weather.com/wrf_nmmeast-radar-loop_1hour.gif

Shows a potential squall line moving through. If we get the instability, I think we'll be seeing a broken line if everything. The Weather Channel as well as SPC seems to think any storms (if they fire) will fire in the Southwest portion of Michigan (as well as parts of Illinois & Indiana) and head east. Will be interesting see what goes on.

At any rate, later this week may need to be watched as well.

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Wow... the 0z NAM really backs off on the severe potential to some degree for tomorrow...

Umm no, if anything, it's more conducive for severe, with better moisture depicted than from previous runs. I'm still dubious of that, but verbatim, it actually looks better for severe wx.

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Bullseye of 0-3 km EHI over 3 near Bloomington tomorrow...

Yeah but you never bullseye chase. Often, the bullseye for severe parameters is in a location with poor forcing for convection, and you can have all the EHI in the world but it won't mean a thing if you don't have a storm there. A trick to forecasting enhanced severe threats is to look for the GRADIENT of the parameters (EHI in this case). The gradient is where you'll often get your best combination of parameters and forcing. And tomorrow looks to be no different, with a tight vort lobe rounding the H5 low. And unfortunately, that gradient basically sets up along I-80 in the southern suburbs of Chicago and into northern Indiana (NAM verbatim). Again, I am skeptical about the moisture return the NAM is depicting, but if it verifies, then I'll be a bit nervous tomorrow afternoon.

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Yeah but you never bullseye chase. Often, the bullseye for severe parameters is in a location with poor forcing for convection, and you can have all the EHI in the world but it won't mean a thing if you don't have a storm there. A trick to forecasting enhanced severe threats is to look for the GRADIENT of the parameters (EHI in this case). The gradient is where you'll often get your best combination of parameters and forcing. And tomorrow looks to be no different, with a tight vort lobe rounding the H5 low. And unfortunately, that gradient basically sets up along I-80 in the southern suburbs of Chicago and into northern Indiana (NAM verbatim). Again, I am skeptical about the moisture return the NAM is depicting, but if it verifies, then I'll be a bit nervous tomorrow afternoon.

Unless the bullseye is the entire warm sector of course like a couple of the events last year :P

But, yeah, considering the problems we had with moisture advection today, it's probably going to take awhile to get enough up that far north in time to get the setup the NAM is projecting.

lol apparently I need to get out of Hoosier's head.

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Yeah but you never bullseye chase.  Often, the bullseye for severe parameters is in a location with poor forcing for convection, and you can have all the EHI in the world but it won't mean a thing if you don't have a storm there.  A trick to forecasting enhanced severe threats is to look for the GRADIENT of the parameters (EHI in this case).  The gradient is where you'll often get your best combination of parameters and forcing.  And tomorrow looks to be no different, with a tight vort lobe rounding the H5 low.  And unfortunately, that gradient basically sets up along I-80 in the southern suburbs of Chicago and into northern Indiana (NAM verbatim).  Again, I am skeptical about the moisture return the NAM is depicting, but if it verifies, then I'll be a bit nervous tomorrow afternoon.

You're ignoring that tomorrow is March 12 - a date that has produced some pretty good severe weather events in the area. :whistle:

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You're ignoring that tomorrow is March 12 - a date that has produced some pretty good severe weather events in the area. :whistle:

I know, and the big one in '76 I believe only had Tds in the 53-55°F range, but this is going to be a mesoscale driven event. We won't know really that it's going to happen until it happens.

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Yeah but you never bullseye chase. Often, the bullseye for severe parameters is in a location with poor forcing for convection, and you can have all the EHI in the world but it won't mean a thing if you don't have a storm there. A trick to forecasting enhanced severe threats is to look for the GRADIENT of the parameters (EHI in this case). The gradient is where you'll often get your best combination of parameters and forcing. And tomorrow looks to be no different, with a tight vort lobe rounding the H5 low. And unfortunately, that gradient basically sets up along I-80 in the southern suburbs of Chicago and into northern Indiana (NAM verbatim). Again, I am skeptical about the moisture return the NAM is depicting, but if it verifies, then I'll be a bit nervous tomorrow afternoon.

Couldn't have really said it any better myself.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the new SPC parameter on the mesoanalysis page (probability of sig. tor.) seems to do well in showing this. It places the highest probabilities on the gradient rather than the bullseyes.

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I know, and the big one in '76 I believe only had Tds in the 53-55°F range, but this is going to be a mesoscale driven event.  We won't know really that it's going to happen until it happens.

Td's were actually lower than that in some of the areas that were hit. ORD only had a dewpoint around 50 when the tornado passed near there. In terms of overall tornado production, that was an impressive event given the marginal moisture.

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