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August 2012 Severe Thunderstorm/Convection Discussion


earthlight

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Forecast guidance is hinting at a potential active start to the month of August in the severe weather and convection department, especially across the Northern Tier of the Central and Eastern US. A broad area of troughing over Central Canada is expected to shift eastward with time, with forecast guidance struggling (as expected at this range) with individual shortwaves and perturbations within the flow. That being said, some of the differences amongst guidance go further than that, with the GEFS mean and GFS OP being much less enthused than the OP ECMWF and ensembles in regards to a strong shortwave trough swinging south from the International Border and the N Plains, through the Great Lakes and towards Southeast Canada.

Such a shortwave, if realized as the Euro suggests, would likely bring significant height falls and strong forcing to support the development of convection in the warm sector which will shift east from the Great Lakes Day 6 to the Northeast US Days 7 and 8. The general set up, though, remains too uncertain at this point..with several model differences on timing, track, strength.

f168.gif

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Excellent post as always John.

A couple of observations and a question:

Upton mentioned today in their discussion (latest one) the very same thing you're keying in on. It's reminiscent of the way that Thursday's storms were well telegraphed from about a week away. In fact, SPC put out a rare day 7-8 outlook, then pulled back due to uncertainty. It also looks like another short way is hot on the first one's heals. Is that so? Seems to me that the pattern may be rather stagnant, so that even the first full week of Aug has some potential as well.

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Excellent post as always John.

A couple of observations and a question:

Upton mentioned today in their discussion (latest one) the very same thing you're keying in on. It's reminiscent of the way that Thursday's storms were well telegraphed from about a week away. In fact, SPC put out a rare day 7-8 outlook, then pulled back due to uncertainty. It also looks like another short way is hot on the first one's heals. Is that so? Seems to me that the pattern may be rather stagnant, so that even the first full week of Aug has some potential as well.

Well there is definitely a broad "threat" for storms. I don't think anything is really clear at this point...the models are all over the place. I don't expect them to issue any type of extended outlook area at this point given the big differences.

But if the threat does materialize and things become more clear as we get closer to the event, then there would be similarities in the way we were able to snuff it out about a week away.

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The GFS trended stronger with the surface cyclogenesis but remains farther north and west from this afternoons ECMWF which was driving the upper level low over the Great Lakes with more of an easterly trajectory.

0z euro continues with its 12z idea of a strong closed low through the lakes.

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See Text & 5% risk on Wednesday: Shear with the upper-level trough looks weak overall. But we have may have steep mid-level lapse rates with the cold pocket aloft:

post-187-0-83482300-1343652463_thumb.gif

...PARTS OF THE UPR OH VALLEY/APPALACHIANS INTO ATLANTIC COAST...

AT THIS TIME...FOCUS FOR STRONGER CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT...OTHER

THAN THE HIGHER TERRAIN...REMAINS UNCLEAR. BUT...MODELS SUGGEST AT

LEAST SOME STEEPENING OF LOW/MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES ASSOCIATED WITH

THE CONTINUED EASTWARD ADVECTION OF ELEVATED MIXED LAYER AIR INTO

THE VICINITY OF THE APPALACHIANS. COUPLED WITH CONTINUED LOW-LEVEL

MOISTENING...MIXED LAYER CAPE AHEAD OF A WEAKENING FRONT ADVANCING

INTO THE OHIO VALLEY IS FORECAST TO BECOME SIZABLE /2000 TO PERHAPS

LOCALLY 3000 J PER KG/ BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. ALTHOUGH

NORTHWESTERLY MID-LEVEL FLOW TO THE WEST OF THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS

MAY BEGIN TO WEAKEN...VERTICAL SHEAR MAY REMAIN STRONG ENOUGH AT

LEAST IN POCKETS TO ENHANCE CONVECTION...AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE RISK

FOR LOCALIZED SEVERE WIND AND HAIL.

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See Text & 5% risk on Wednesday: Shear with the upper-level trough looks weak overall. But we have may have steep mid-level lapse rates with the cold pocket aloft:

post-187-0-83482300-1343652463_thumb.gif

...PARTS OF THE UPR OH VALLEY/APPALACHIANS INTO ATLANTIC COAST...

AT THIS TIME...FOCUS FOR STRONGER CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT...OTHER

THAN THE HIGHER TERRAIN...REMAINS UNCLEAR. BUT...MODELS SUGGEST AT

LEAST SOME STEEPENING OF LOW/MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES ASSOCIATED WITH

THE CONTINUED EASTWARD ADVECTION OF ELEVATED MIXED LAYER AIR INTO

THE VICINITY OF THE APPALACHIANS. COUPLED WITH CONTINUED LOW-LEVEL

MOISTENING...MIXED LAYER CAPE AHEAD OF A WEAKENING FRONT ADVANCING

INTO THE OHIO VALLEY IS FORECAST TO BECOME SIZABLE /2000 TO PERHAPS

LOCALLY 3000 J PER KG/ BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. ALTHOUGH

NORTHWESTERLY MID-LEVEL FLOW TO THE WEST OF THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS

MAY BEGIN TO WEAKEN...VERTICAL SHEAR MAY REMAIN STRONG ENOUGH AT

LEAST IN POCKETS TO ENHANCE CONVECTION...AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE RISK

FOR LOCALIZED SEVERE WIND AND HAIL.

12z euro is on board for this event.

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0z euro continues with its 12z idea of a strong closed low through the lakes.

12z euro continues it's idea of a strong closed ULL driving through the northern part of the country for Sunday.

On today's run, it stays a little too north of the area, but it's a very interesting pattern to keep an eye out on.

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12z euro continues it's idea of a strong closed ULL driving through the northern part of the country for Sunday.

On today's run, it stays a little too north of the area, but it's a very interesting pattern to keep an eye out on.

Yeah the 12z data keeps the sfc low well north of the US/Canadian border but the pressure falls do extend swd into the Northeast along the FROPA. I'd like to see the height falls extend further south than currently depicted. Right now I'm more interested in the Wednesday convective threat as the s/w will be nearly overhead, thus stronger forcing, but the Sunday potential has plenty of time to change. Definitely an interesting pattern going forward into August.

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Re Wednesdy, surface lifted condensation levels will be very low along with weak convective inhibition, so fairly widespread T-storm development should be expected. Sfc instability parameters aren't that impressive, but lapse rates and forcing from the short wave aloft should compensate. Severe stuff will probably be isolated, though I wouldn't be surprised to see an upgrade to slight risk by Wednesday.

Sfc LCL's -- very humid/moist boundary layer will aid in increased buoyancy and widespread convection. Hvy rain producers are probable with heightened PWs.

2zrjh3c.jpg

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It looks like the storms on Wednesday will be nearly stationary with very heavy rains and possibly pulse severe.

Agreed, precipitable water value of 1.7 per that sounding. Convection that develops will drop a ton of rain, similar to what we saw on Saturday. LI's of -3 and CAPE < 1000 J/KG (around 500 actually), so meager sfc instability parameters. Severe will be short lived and pulse type as you noted.

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Agreed, precipitable water value of 1.7 per that sounding. Convection that develops will drop a ton of rain, similar to what we saw on Saturday. LI's of -3 and CAPE < 1000 J/KG (around 500 actually), so meager sfc instability parameters. Severe will be short lived and pulse type as you noted.

Yeah, it may be the kind of day where convection forms right along any boundaries like the sea breezes and just

trains over the same locations.

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Yeah the 12z data keeps the sfc low well north of the US/Canadian border but the pressure falls do extend swd into the Northeast along the FROPA. I'd like to see the height falls extend further south than currently depicted. Right now I'm more interested in the Wednesday convective threat as the s/w will be nearly overhead, thus stronger forcing, but the Sunday potential has plenty of time to change. Definitely an interesting pattern going forward into August.

The trend amongst guidance over the last day or two has definitely been towards bringing the height falls and forcing a little farther south. The set up seems a little disjointed to me so one has to wonder what kind of kinematics/wind fields we would be dealing with. But, just as an illustration, the DGEX brings things decently far south (surface low is still in Southeast Canada, though) with convection through the warm sector.

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~gadomski/DGEXEAST_18z/f150.gif

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The trend amongst guidance over the last day or two has definitely been towards bringing the height falls and forcing a little farther south. The set up seems a little disjointed to me so one has to wonder what kind of kinematics/wind fields we would be dealing with. But, just as an illustration, the DGEX brings things decently far south (surface low is still in Southeast Canada, though) with convection through the warm sector.

http://www.meteo.psu...ST_18z/f150.gif

Yeah, if the DGEX were to verify, that's not a terrible look. Best severe threat still in NNE, but there is some more bagginess to the height field as the s/w rolls through sern Canada. Should see plenty of convection with that set-up at least. Hopefully we'll see more positive trends in the coming days.

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What we see to our west should occurr in our area tomorrow -- slow moving convection, mostly non-severe, but putting down a lot of water in short order. PW values are tropical for tomorrow afternoon. Look for locallized zones of 1-3" of rain where T-storms train.

2yufwn5.jpg

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You can see an area of vorticity now even on the GFS, extending southward near the frontal zone from the main height falls. The setup remains pretty muddled though. I would think there would at least be a threat for organized convection despite the surface low being very far north.

f120.gif

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That being said, it might not be great to have to rely on something as small-scale as vorticity out ahead of the main trough for our lift. In that regard it might not be so great to have the surface low so far north. But IF we can get that vorticity to advect into our area, that should create enough lift so that the pressure trough without deep pressures is still enough.

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DAY 4-8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

0359 AM CDT WED AUG 01 2012

VALID 041200Z - 091200Z

...DISCUSSION...

THE SPREAD AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE MEDIUM RANGE ENSEMBLES IS

SIZABLE FROM THE OUTSET OF THE FORECAST PERIOD CONCERNING THE STRONG

SHORT WAVE TROUGH LIKELY TO BE ACCELERATING EAST OF THE CENTRAL

CANADIAN/U.S. BORDER AREA...WITHIN A PERSISTENT BELT OF STRONGER

WESTERLIES. HOWEVER...THERE DOES APPEAR REASONABLE CONSENSUS WITH

REGARD TO THE BASIC TRENDS LIKELY TO IMPACT CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL

ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES INTO THE NORTHEAST... AS CYCLOGENESIS

PROCEEDS ACROSS ONTARIO AND QUEBEC THIS COMING WEEKEND.

ALTHOUGH BETTER LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE INFLOW TO THE DEVELOPING SYSTEM

MAY BEGIN BY SATURDAY...THE MORE SUBSTANTIVE STRENGTHENING OF

SOUTHERLY LOW-LEVEL WARM SECTOR FLOW AND SHEAR MAY BE CONFINED TO

PORTIONS OF ONTARIO TO THE NORTH OF LAKES SUPERIOR AND HURON.

AS DEEPENING OF THE SURFACE LOW CONTINUES ON SUNDAY... STRENGTHENING

OF LOWER AND MID TROPOSPHERIC FLOW FIELDS APPEARS INCREASINGLY

PROBABLE AS FAR SOUTH AS AREAS TO THE EAST OF THE LOWER GREAT

LAKES...PERHAPS THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. WHILE THIS MAY NOT BE MUCH

MORE THAN 30-40 KT...IT DOES APPEAR THAT LOW-LEVEL MOISTENING AND

STEEPENING OF MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES WILL BECOME SUFFICIENT FOR THE

DEVELOPMENT OF MODERATELY LARGE CAPE ACROSS MUCH OF NEW

YORK/PENNSYLVANIA AND PORTIONS OF ADJACENT STATES. THIS ENVIRONMENT

APPEARS POTENTIALLY SUPPORTIVE OF AN EVOLVING ORGANIZED MESOSCALE

CONVECTIVE SYSTEM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING CONSIDERABLE DAMAGING WIND

GUSTS...PARTICULARLY AS MID-LEVEL FORCING FOR UPWARD VERTICAL MOTION

BEGINS TO SPREAD EAST OF THE LOWER GREAT LAKES REGION...EITHER LATE

SUNDAY OR SUNDAY NIGHT.

..KERR.. 08/01/2012

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Statement as of 11:27 AM EDT on August 01, 2012

The National Weather Service in Upton NY has issued an

* Urban Flood Advisory for minor flooding of poor drainage areas

in...

Kings (Brooklyn) County in southeast New York...

Richmond (staten island) County in southeast New York...

western Nassau County in southeast New York...

Queens County in southeast New York...

* until 100 PM EDT...

* at 1125 am EDT... radar showed slow moving showers and

thunderstorms over the lower boroughs of New York City... with

rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

Excessive runoff from these storms will cause flooding of urban

areas... highways... streets and underpasses as well as other drainage

areas and low lying spots.

Be prepared to take action if the flooding threat increases... or if

a Flash Flood Warning is issued.

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