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Friday severe threat! Low topped squall line?


weatherwiz

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As we move through the middle of the week computer models show a rather broad and deep mid/upper level trough working through the country towards the east coast along with a closed off mid/upper level circulation. East of this trough a rather strong south/southwesterly flow will develop advecting in some unseasonably high dewpoints all the way up through New England as several computer models are showing dewpoints increasing to the low to mid 60's. Not only will we see an increase in moisture/higher dewpoints but warmer low-level air will also be working into the region as computer models indicate 925mb temperatures increasing to as much as +15C across southern New England with 850mb temps increasing to as much as +10C to +11C. While full sunshine and strong mixing would promote high temperatures in the mid to upper 70's substantial cloud cover is expected to hold temps back towards the mid and upper 60's.

As the trough begins to approach New England swinging a cold front eastward we will begin to see an increase in the winds aloft; 1) With the approaching trough winds in the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere will increase and 2) With an area of high pressure located just east of New England out in the Atlantic the pressure gradient will also allow for the development of a secondary low-level jet max right over the region. Computer models are showing a 60-80 knot mid-level jet max working into the region by early Friday afternoon with much of the region entering the right front quadrant of a 100-125 knot upper-level jet max. The resultant mid-level jet should yield to vertical shear values of 45-55 knots across the entire region. Computer models also show as 30-35 knot secondary low-level jet max over southern New England during the day on Friday.

While surface temperatures will not be that warm thanks in part to a lack of appreciable sunshine, increasing moisture both at the surface and in the lower levels of the atmosphere should be enough to generate some weak instability values across the region, even with fairly poor mid-level lapse rates. Computer models are developing as much as 500 J/KG of SBcape and MLcape as far north as MA along with LI values of around -2C.

The combination of very strong winds aloft, forcing along a strong cold front/trough and weak surface-based instability could result in the development of t'storms, likely into a fine low-topped squall line. In fact, this line should already be ongoing very early Friday as it moves northeastward from the mid-Atlantic states and the question will be does the line maintain itself or perhaps slightly intensify?

The main threats with any convection would be some gusty winds along with torrential downpours potentially leading to localized areas of flash flooding. Some meso models, however, also have a decent amount of helicity as winds from the surface up through the lower-levels of the atmosphere have a directional component to them. While we're still a few days from Friday it is interesting to see the SPC SREF designate a SIG TOR over the region this far out. Not saying this is a threat but something to keep an eye on.

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Friday's setup is rather decent for this time of year provided we can generate some instability which the NAM/SREF's actually aren't too bad in that disregard. low to mid 60's dewpoints this time of year is a bit unusual and should help with the advection of some higher low-level instability.

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mcd2080.gif

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2080

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

1050 PM CDT FRI OCT 19 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...ERN CT...RI...ERN MA...ERN LONG ISLAND

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY

VALID 200350Z - 200545Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...5 PERCENT

SUMMARY...WEAK TSTMS HAVE DEVELOPED WITHIN A STRONGLY SHEARED

ENVIRONMENT OFF THE NE COAST. WEAK SUPERCELLS WITH TRANSIENT

ROTATION WILL RESULT IN A LOW PROBABILITY OF A TORNADO. THERE IS

ALSO A LOW PROBABILITY OF A STRONG WIND GUST.

DISCUSSION...TSTMS JUST OFF THE CT/RI/MA COAST HAVE INCREASED OVER

THE PAST HOUR. THIS ACTIVITY IS LIKELY ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK

SHORTWAVE TROUGH NEAR THE NY/PA BORDER...EMBEDDED WITHIN THE STRONG

SLY FLOW ALOFT AROUND THE DEEP UPPER LEVEL LOW. SOME ADDITIONAL LIFT

IS ALSO BEING PROVIDED BY UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE WITHIN THE ENTRANCE

REGION OF A JET STREAK. THESE FAVORABLE LARGE SCALE FIELDS ARE

COUNTERED BY A SURFACE INVERSION DEPICTED BY 00Z RAOBS AND VERY WEAK

INSTABILITY. RECENT RADAR/LIGHTNING TRENDS INDICATE THE TSTMS HAVE

BECOME STRONGER OVER THE PAST HOUR. GIVEN THE STRONG SHEAR AND AT

LEAST MODEST LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE...THESE STORM POSE A LOW PROBABILITY

TORNADO THREAT. THERE IS A LOW PROBABILITY OF SOME STRONG WINDS AS

WELL. LOW COVERAGE AND PROBABILITY PRECLUDE THE NEED FOR A WW.

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Good amount of lightning too. Bob is gonna get nailed.

A nice pocket of 500 J/KG MLcape across the region...lapse rates are quite nice as well along with shear...the highest and more intense helicity is a bit offshore but if we had higher helicity values in place some of these cells would be more interesting.

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