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April 15-19th Severe Weather


Chicago Storm

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Mid level lapse rates are very marginal that's the first issue. Second is how the models handle the surface temps after dark. I haven't yet modified a sounding but would think that 250-750 units are possible ahead of the line higher west in IL. With the extreme shear present this will either be just enough or the updrafts will get knocked over. The forcing should help with this.

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Might get a watch here.

 

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0483
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   1256 PM CDT TUE APR 16 2013
  
   AREAS AFFECTED...MUCH OF SRN OH/SERN IND/NERN KY/PART OF WRN WV
  
   CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE
  
   VALID 161756Z - 161930Z
  
   PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...40 PERCENT
  
   SUMMARY...POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR TSTMS MOVING EWD INTO AND/OR
   DEVELOPING ACROSS THE MIDDLE-UPPER OH VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON WILL
   INTENSIFY AND BECOME SEVERE.  WW ISSUANCE IS POSSIBLE BY MID-LATE
   AFTERNOON WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL BEING THE PRIMARY THREATS.
  
   DISCUSSION...TRENDS IN LATE MORNING-EARLY AFTERNOON SURFACE ANALYSES
   ACROSS THE OH VALLEY SHOWED A COLD FRONT ADVANCING EWD INTO NORTH
   CENTRAL TO WEST CENTRAL OH...AND FAR SWRN IND. THE TRAILING PORTION
   OF THIS BOUNDARY HAD REMAINED GENERALLY QUASI-STATIONARY FROM FAR
   SRN IL THROUGH NWRN AR AND SOUTH CENTRAL OK.  OBJECTIVE ANALYSES
   INDICATED DESTABILIZATION UNDERWAY ACROSS THE WARM SECTOR WHICH
   EXTENDED INTO THE MIDDLE AND UPPER PORTIONS OF THE OH VALLEY WITH
   SURFACE DEWPOINTS INTO THE LOWER 60S BENEATH THE ERN EXTENT OF THE
   STEEPER MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES /7-7.5 C PER KM/. DESPITE GRADUAL
   HEIGHT RISES AND SOME MIDLEVEL WARMING...FURTHER LOW LEVEL
   MOISTENING SHOULD PROVE SUFFICIENT IN SUPPORTING A MODERATELY
   UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT ACROSS MOST OF THE DISCUSSION AREA BY PEAK
   HEATING FOR STORMS TO BECOME SURFACE BASED.
  
   MEANWHILE...A CLUSTER OF PERSISTENT TSTMS UPSTREAM OVER CENTRAL
   IND...CENTRAL IL TO FAR EAST CENTRAL MO IS LOCATED N OF THE SURFACE
   FRONT AND LIKELY ROOTED AROUND 850 MB PER RECENT RAP SOUNDINGS. THIS
   ACTIVITY APPEARS TO BE SUPPORTED BY LOW LEVEL WAA AND ASCENT
   ATTENDANT TO A SUBTLE MIDLEVEL IMPULSE.
  
   TRENDS IN THE HRRR THIS MORNING AND THE 12Z 4 KM WRF-NSSL...DESPITE
   TIMING DIFFERENCES IN THE LATTER MODEL...SUGGEST THE IND/IL STORMS
   COULD DEVELOP A COLD POOL AS THIS ACTIVITY REACHES SERN IND INTO SRN
   OH. ALTHOUGH LOW LEVEL WINDS ARE WEAKENING IN THE DISCUSSION
   AREA...50 KT WLY MIDLEVEL WINDS WILL MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT BULK SHEAR
   FOR STORMS TO BECOME ORGANIZED WITH ACTIVITY EVENTUALLY TRACKING
   TOWARD THE ESE PRODUCING A THREAT FOR PRIMARILY DAMAGING WINDS AND
   HAIL.

 

post-4544-0-00029500-1366137470_thumb.gi

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I do think concern is growing for Thursday into Friday for those in IN/KY/MI based on recent model trends of the GFS.  It was in the low 80's today with 65 dews from Evansville over to Louisville. Kinematics with this system look to be strong and it wouldn't take much to get that warm front northward.  As always insolation and instability issues are there but the potential for the first real svr outbreak in the heartland seems to be there unless messy convection or stratus foul things up.

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The GFS has more CAPE now.  There's always the stupid Lake MI hole making it look less impressive but I think the GFS overdoes that.  With such strong wind fields the warm air should glide right over top the lake stratus layer without cooling much at all.  The only real issue is the entire column will be pretty moist with a tall-skinny tropical looking CAPE by then.  There could be too much precip coverage to allow strong discrete supercells.  With that much shear squall lines can produce tornadoes too though so you can't completely rule it out.

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From a chasing standpoint, I'm actually more interested in the warm front in central IL tomorrow.  Looks very similar to last Wednesday, only with better parameters.  

 

Agree that Thursday's even looks significant, but a massive QLCS isn't really all that chase-able.

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From a chasing standpoint, I'm actually more interested in the warm front in central IL tomorrow.  Looks very similar to last Wednesday, only with better parameters.  

 

Agree that Thursday's even looks significant, but a massive QLCS isn't really all that chase-able.

It is, but you usually get one shot before you get swamped by the line and then have to play catch up.

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It is, but you usually get one shot before you get swamped by the line and then have to play catch up.

 

I've never had success trying to punch back through a line from the back.  Either run into a traffic jam or have to slow way down to avoid hydroplaning.  Most of the "chasing" I've tried to do in Michigan was more like trying to position myself for a nice shelf view and then hunker down.

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Probably gonna fail again, but we'll be out chasing Thu somewhere down in central or southern IL.  I've been extremely busy all day and night and haven't had a chance to look at anything yet, but from the sounds of it everything still looks decent.

 

I am thinking I will also be out and about on Thursday probably somewhere in MI if things continue to look the way they are right now.

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From a chasing standpoint, I'm actually more interested in the warm front in central IL tomorrow. Looks very similar to last Wednesday, only with better parameters.

Agree that Thursday's even looks significant, but a massive QLCS isn't really all that chase-able.

A QLCS looks kinda inevitable but I'm wondering if there may be an opportunity for some discrete activity before that happens. Capping looks weak in the warm sector.

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Tony posted this over at C/W for Thursday, great stuff here.

 

Farther north, a sleeper play tomorrow is the warm front across NE MO and central IL.  Weak-mdt instability will be in place along the front, along with large, looping hodographs.  After dark, the NAM and GFS show slight sfc stabilization, but with 50kt winds at 925mb, I would not rule out a tornado threat continuing during the overnight hours, and, depending on the progress of the warm front, maybe even approaching Chicago by 09z or so.  A hail threat seems like a foregone conclusion.

 

Then comes the fun on Thursday.  This is going to be a very complex scenario that may result in some areas seeing a prolonged, multiple-round significant severe weather episode.  The NAM, GFS, and Euro are actually in pretty good agreement about the evolution of convective activity on Thursday.  After clearing out the original convection from IL/IN around 12z, another round of convection develops near the MS River and moves across nrn IL, nrn IN, and srn MI between about 15z to the west and 21z to the east.  Ahead of that convection, CAPE exceeds 1000J/kg+ and 0-1km SRH of 200-300 m^2/s^2, with 0-6km shear of 45-60kt suggests that, at a minimum, semi-discrete supercell structures with a strong tornado threat are possible, even with this round of convection, despite the timing.  And if that weren't enough, the GFS, Euro, and NAM recover the atmosphere immediately behind that round of convection and provide and environment for a significant QLCS with a wind and tornado threat to develop along the cold front around 21z and push across IL and IN.

 

Farther south, the QLCS will continue down the front into AR and eventually push east across TN, KY, MS, and AL through the overnight hours Thursday night/Friday morning.  There is some indication that more discrete convection could form ahead of the front giving an lack of capping over the warm sector.  Once again, with the amount of boundary layer humidity and the strength of the low-level wind fields, wind and tornadoes will be possible with the QLCS, with that threat lasting overnight across the OH and TN Valleys.

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DAY 2 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK    NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK  1216 AM CDT WED APR 17 2013    VALID 181200Z - 191200Z     ..THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM ERN TX TO LOWER MI       ..ERN TX TO LOWER MI    STRONG MID LEVEL JET CORE WILL EXIT THE BASE OF UPPER TROUGH OVER NM  RACING NEWD INTO THE MID MS VALLEY AND INTENSIFY IN EXCESS OF 100KT  OVER MO/IA BY 19/00Z.  THIS ACCELERATING JET STREAK WILL SHARPEN THE  PROGRESSIVE COLD FRONT WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS FOR  DEEP CONVECTION THROUGH THE PERIOD.    LATE DAY1 TSTMS WILL ORGANIZE INTO AN EXTENSIVE SQUALL LINE ALONG  THE COLD FRONT WITH MCS EXPECTED TO EXTEND FROM NRN IL...SWWD ACROSS  MO INTO NERN TX AT SUNRISE.  LATEST NAM SUGGESTS THE MOST  SIGNIFICANT BOUNDARY LAYER HEATING WILL OCCUR AHEAD OF THE FRONT  NORTH OF I-20 WHERE SFC-3KM LAPSE RATES WILL STEEPEN IN EXCESS OF 7  C/KM.  BOUNDARY LAYER THERMALS SHOULD SUPPORT ROBUST UPDRAFTS WITHIN  AN ENVIRONMENT YIELDING SBCAPE ON THE ORDER OF 1500 J/KG.    FORECAST SHEAR PROFILES ARE QUITE STRONG ALONG THE COLD FRONT WITH  IMPRESSIVE FLOW JUST OFF THE SURFACE NORTH OF THE OH RIVER.  LATEST  THINKING IS EARLY MORNING SQUALL LINE WILL REMAIN ORGANIZED AS IT  SURGES EWD.  THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE BOW-TYPE STRUCTURES COULD  EVOLVE ALONG THE SQUALL LINE GIVEN THE FAVORABLE SHEAR...IN ADDITION  TO EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS THAT COULD PRODUCE ISOLATED TORNADOES.  IF  MODELS CONTINUE TO DEPICT SUFFICIENT BUOYANCY THERE MAY BE AN  ENHANCED RISK OF AN EXTENSIVE DAMAGING WIND EVENT WITH THIS  ELONGATED CONVECTIVE COMPLEX.  WILL MAINTAIN 30 PERCENT SEVERE PROBS  BUT THERE IS SOME CONCERN THIS MAY NEED TO BE UPGRADED IN LATER  OUTLOOKS.    ..DARROW.. 04/17/2013 

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Study in the car while chasing :)

 

no can do....I get wicked nauseated whenever I do read or anything but look out the window in a moving car

 

It's fine...there will be more opportunities (though I'll be so crazy busy this summer who knows?)

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