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April 12th/13th and 15-16th Severe Weather Thread


andyhb

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Thursday looks fairly interesting across western KS on the NAM, but I'm concerned about the moisture situation. It pools lower 60s dew points, but indicates nasty moisture holes developing farther south, with low-mid 50s prevalent down the dryline in the Panhandles. In my experience, this often means the moisture will end up mixing out farther north anyway, too. If some of the forecast soundings did verify for areas like DDC-GCK and points north up to I-70, there would definitely be a tornadic supercell threat, though.

I agree. Thursday COULD be the best setup for tornadoes.

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I agree. Thursday will be the best setup for tornadoes.

Last year on April 9th I went to sleep ready to wake up and chase in Northern Illinois in a High Risk area, and when I woke up the target area had shifted about 250 miles north and was not nearly the outbreak that had been predicted the night before. I clearly remember an outlook on Saturday night saying that an upgrade to High Risk is likely, and it ended up with a downgrade in Illinois.

Just saying that it is really early to predict.

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The best upper level energetics are still offshore via nam 0z but with such a broad trough in place, upper level support exists Thurs. With this much moisture already in place, many episodes of convective weather will occur during the entire forecast period. By Fri or Sat many chasers will find roads washed out from the day before and difficult conditions. Flooding will be a serious issue.

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This time last year I was just now calling off the chase having witnessed 7 tornadoes, all at night! (sorry, off topic)

Yes things can and will change, quickly at times. Convection will occur...somewhere and some time!

Chip

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This time last year I was just now calling off the chase having witnessed 7 tornadoes, all at night! (sorry, off topic)

Yes things can and will change, quickly at times. Convection will occur...somewhere and some time!

Chip

That was supposed to be the prelude to Sunday, and in my opinion Saturday night in Iowa was the main show. The cap never broke around here on Sunday though. Just goes to show how much things can change.

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Probably not, especially with the way the moisture's been trending. Not unusual for models to overestimate moisture depth and quality by a significant margin this time of year.

Agreed for Thursday, but with the way the trajectories out of the Gulf and Caribbean are setting up, the amount of moisture doesn't seem very unrealistic, at least for Friday and Saturday.

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The 00z ECMWF taken verbatim would probably be a major tornado outbreak Saturday over the Central Plains. A 80+ kt 500 mb jet punches right into the warm sector, with a strong LLJ associated with a pretty decent low level cyclone. 60s dewpoints all the way up to southern MN. A very impressive run.

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Thursday.

2ymt6iw.jpg

...CENTRAL/SRN PLAINS...

HEIGHT FALLS CONTINUING OVER THE PLAINS STATES ON THU AS THE LEAD

SHORTWAVE TROUGH LIFTS NEWD INTO THE NRN PLAINS WILL ALLOW THE LEE

TROUGH/DRY LINE TO SHIFT EWD INTO SWRN NEB...WRN KS...ERN TX

PANHANDLE AND THEN TRAIL SWWD INTO SW TX BY MID-LATE THU AFTERNOON.

MULTI-MODEL ANALYSIS OF THE GFS/ECMWF/NAM DURING THE LAST 24 HOURS

SHOWS LOW VARIABILITY IN THE AFOREMENTIONED PLACEMENT OF THE DRY

LINE.

ELEVATED TSTMS MAY BE ONGOING AT THE START OF D3 ACROSS ERN PARTS OF

KS/NEB WITHIN A CORRIDOR OF WAA ALONG A SSWLY LLJ. WHILE THIS

ACTIVITY COULD PERSIST THROUGH THE DAY...A GREATER THREAT FOR SEVERE

STORMS IS EXPECTED FARTHER W/SW ALONG THE N-S ORIENTED DRY LINE.

SLY LOW LEVEL FLOW ACROSS WRN PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL/SRN PLAINS

WILL MAINTAIN NWD MOISTURE ADVECTION WITH SURFACE DEWPOINTS IN THE

LOWER 60S REACHING SWRN-SOUTH CENTRAL KS. THIS COMBINED WITH STRONG

SURFACE HEATING AND STEEP MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES SHIFTING EWD ATOP THE

DRY LINE WILL SUPPORT A NARROW CORRIDOR OF MODERATE INSTABILITY.

EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR OF 35-50 KT WITH VECTORS ORIENTED PERPENDICULAR

TO THE SURFACE BOUNDARY WILL RESULT IN SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF

PRODUCING HAIL...SOME VERY LARGE...AND A TORNADO THREAT.

00z Ukie too:

16a2qns.jpg

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ICT really beefing up the wording for Friday/Saturday:

THURSDAY-SATURDAY:

THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS WERE IN DECENT OVERALL AGREEMENT ON

PLACEMENT OF UPPER LEVEL AND LOW-LEVEL SYNOPTIC FEATURES DURING THE

PERIOD. THE NAM AND GFS WERE FURTHER WEST WITH THE DRYLINE AND

INSTABILITY AXIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING AND ARE PREFERRED OVER

THE ECMWF. THE SURFACE INSTABILITY AXIS SHOULD LIE WEST OF OUR AREA

CLOSER TO THE DRYLINE THURSDAY. SBCINH WILL LIKELY BE HIGH IN OUR

AREA THURSDAY PM/NIGHT GIVEN STRONG MOISTURE ADVECTION...EXTENSIVE

LOW CLOUDS...AND WIDESPREAD RAIN/THUNDER POTENTIAL. HAVE CUT BACK ON

HIGHS THURSDAY. EVEN IF A FEW SUPERCELLS GET GOING NEAR THE DRYLINE

THURS PM/EVE TO OUR WEST...THEY WILL LIKELY DISSIPATE OR BECOME

ELEVATED BY THE TIME THEY REACH OUR WESTERN COUNTIES. FRIDAY AND

SATURDAY LOOK TO BE THE TWO DAYS WITH THE BIGGEST SEVERE WEATHER

POTENTIAL IN OUR AREA. A CLASSIC WARM SECTOR SEVERE WEATHER SETUP

WILL BE IN PLACE WITH A DRYLINE FROM CENTRAL KS TO WESTERN OK.

MODERATE-STRONG INSTABILITY WILL BE IN PLACE EAST OF THE DRYLINE...WITH

50-65 KT DEEP LAYER SHEAR VECTORS CUTTING NEARLY PERPENDICULAR

ACROSS THE DRYLINE FAVORING SUPERCELL-TYPE STORMS WITH HIGH-END

SEVERE POTENTIAL.

TSA:

THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO HAVE CLEARED THE FORECAST AREA BY

THURSDAY EVENING PLACING THE AREA WITHIN THE WARM SECTOR AHEAD OF

THE APPROACHING WESTERN TROUGH. WHILE DETAILS WILL GRADUALLY

EVOLVE...THERE IS LIKELY TO BE SEVERAL SHORTWAVE TROUGH EJECTING

ACROSS THE PLAINS FROM LATE WEEK THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND. EACH WAVE

WILL LIKELY SPARK ONE OR MORE AREAS OF SEVERE CONVECTION IN OR

NEAR THE AREA. ALSO...THE DRYLINE AND/OR COLD FRONT WILL WORK

STEADILY EASTWARD WITH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY APPEARING MOST LIKELY

FOR THE MORE WIDESPREAD SEVERE EVENT ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA.

TOP:

WHILE OPERATIONAL MODELS DIVERGE ON THE SPECIFICS DURING THIS

PERIOD...AND WITH THE FORECASTING NATURE OF CONVECTIVE WEATHER

POTENTIAL SEVERAL DAYS OUT...MUCH IS LEFT TO STILL RESOLVE THAT WILL

PLAY A SUBSTANTIAL ROLE IN THE EVOLUTION OF EACH CONVECTIVE

EPISODE...IT APPEARS LIKELY THAT ACTIVE WEATHER CAN BE EXPECTED

THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME FORM OF SEVERE

WEATHER EACH DAY (THU-SAT) AND EVENTUALLY SOME FLOODING CONCERNS ARE

ALSO IN THE WORKS WITH THIS SLOW MOVING AMPLIFIED SYSTEM. BOTH

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY ARE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST WITH REGARDS TO

SEVERE WEATHER OVER PORTIONS OF THE CWA...WITH FORECASTED

ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS SUGGESTING THE POSSIBILITY OF SUPERCELLS

AND SOME TORNADO RISK.

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And the latest Day 4-8 maintains the threat for both days and already mentioning tornadic supercells...

wgufc1.jpg

DAY 4-8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

0400 AM CDT TUE APR 10 2012

VALID 131200Z - 181200Z

...DISCUSSION...

A LARGE PACIFIC TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO AMPLIFY SEWD ACROSS CA/NV ON

D4/FRI INTO THE SWRN STATES/NRN MEXICO DURING D5/SAT AND D6/SUN

RESULTING IN DEEPENING OF THE WRN U.S. LONGWAVE TROUGH. THIS WILL

SUSTAIN A SWLY FLOW REGIME EXTENDING FROM NM THROUGH OK/KS TO THE

GREAT LAKES REGION DURING FRI-SUN. ON D4...THE GFS DIFFERS WITH THE

ECMWF INDICATING A STRONGER SHORTWAVE TROUGH TRACKING ACROSS THE

CENTRAL PLAINS TO THE UPPER MS VALLEY. DESPITE THIS

DIFFERENCE...EACH MODEL CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN A SIMILAR WARM SECTOR

MOISTURE DISTRIBUTION EXTENDING NWD ACROSS OK AND CENTRAL/ERN KS ON

D4 AND SHIFTED SLIGHTLY EWD AND EXPANDED IN AREAL COVERAGE ON D5.

THE REGIONAL SEVERE WEATHER THREAT AREAS REMAIN SIMILAR FROM

PREVIOUS FORECASTS FOR FRI APR 13 AND SAT APR 14. SWLY MIDLEVEL

WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN ON D4 TO 50-70 KT WITH A FURTHER

INCREASE ON D5 AS A 70-90 KT JET MOVES FROM THE BASE OF THE WRN

TROUGH INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS TO THE UPPER MS VALLEY. THESE WINDS

COMBINED WITH A STRONG SLY LLJ MAINTAINING RICH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE

INTO THE OUTLOOK AREAS WILL RESULT IN A MODERATELY-STRONGLY UNSTABLE

WARM SECTOR. VERTICALLY VEERING WIND PROFILES WILL PROMOTE THE

POTENTIAL FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS ALSO PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND

DAMAGING WINDS.

BEYOND D5...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SUGGEST THE WRN LONGWAVE TROUGH WILL

BECOME PROGRESSIVE SHIFTING EWD...BUT MODELS TEND TO DIFFER IN THE

TRACK AND TIMING OF THIS TROUGH. STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE

AGAIN ON D6/SUN ACROSS THE SRN PLAINS...THOUGH WIDESPREAD CONVECTION

MAY TEND TO LIMIT A REGIONAL SEVERE WEATHER THREAT.

..PETERS.. 04/10/2012

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GFS and ECMWF are in generally good agreement about placement of the jet heading into the late week/weekend. ECMWF is a little muted on the low level instability, but that is usually the case. GFS is pretty bullish on the theta-e lapse rates in the lowest 4 km Friday, and especially Saturday, across the warm sector.

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GFS and ECMWF are in generally good agreement about placement of the jet heading into the late week/weekend. ECMWF is a little muted on the low level instability, but that is usually the case. GFS is pretty bullish on the theta-e lapse rates in the lowest 4 km Friday, and especially Saturday, across the warm sector.

It's been a long time, if ever, since I've seen the GFS be as aggressive on instability in the low-levels as it is with this system. It's a bit unnerving.

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SPC mentions a tornado threat for THU.

THIS COMBINED WITH STRONG

SURFACE HEATING AND STEEP MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES SHIFTING EWD ATOP THE

DRY LINE WILL SUPPORT A NARROW CORRIDOR OF MODERATE INSTABILITY.

EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR OF 35-50 KT WITH VECTORS ORIENTED PERPENDICULAR

TO THE SURFACE BOUNDARY WILL RESULT IN SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF

PRODUCING HAIL...SOME VERY LARGE...AND A TORNADO THREAT.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day3otlk.html

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It's been a long time, if ever, since I've seen the GFS be as aggressive on instability in the low-levels as it is with this system. It's a bit unnerving.

It's not necessarily an outlier either. There is at least large scale agreement with the ECMWF, Ukie and NAM (though it is at the end of its range). The CMC is the only guidance that I've seen that takes the jet more meridional.

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