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April 26th-30th, 2014 Major Tornado Outbreak


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I don't really see any differences in the 500 mb vertical velocity field (a flag for erroneous convective feedback) between the 12z and 18z GFS runs, at least prior to 18z Saturday.

 

The convection the 12z GFS absolutely blew up like a nuke was around 00z Sunday, not 18z Saturday.

 

The 18z GFS has nothing of this sort.

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Saturday this run is driven by the ridge out ahead being less amplified due to the NE ULL not being nearly as well developed as it was in the previous runs. This allows a more progressive solution and thus the dryline lighting up.

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Just for knowledge: When was the last time we saw a significant outbreak with such a broad-based trough (basically covering most of the CONUS) as the 18Z GFS shows by 00Z Monday? 04/27/2011 was obviously one, as was 04/03/1974…not that those are analogous at all to this setting, other than in terms of a general progressive trend. Most of the CIPS analogs had a more amplified trough than what the GFS shows Monday. My climatological knowledge of cases needs improvement, I will admit.

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12z euro looked nice with the slower solution, but it blows the dryline past I-35 around 18Z. Still hanging on to hope that models are moving it too fast like SPC and FWD mentioned this morning. Tornado aspect I could do without, a good storm would be nice though.

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There has been some mention of analogs, I agree that could be a key element in what may happen.  I think tomorrows suite of models runs should start to converging on a better solution.  The models have historically had a difficult time at the H5 level depicting the proper storm tracks when they want to close it off and linger it a few days like they show with this system when it get to the Great Lakes area.  Chasers should not count Saturday out as they may have a very short time to pull the trigger.

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00z GFS is still a hell of a setup on the dryline on Saturday, Monday still looking bad as per usual it seems.

 

Man, that trough orientation being shown on the latest GFS for Saturday evening across W/C KS & W OK resembles some pretty big outbreaks of the past.  The timing of storm initiation would put storms maturing near sunset with one hell of a LLJ ramping up.  The tornado threat could last well into the night across the region as well.

 

Now time to wait for the Euro.

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For Saturday night, I think the GFS is to slow with storm initiation. At hour 66 it has a strong vort max at H5 just sw of the 4 corners area. Between h66 and h72 it phases with a northern stream, and the vort max moves strongly north.  After phasing  its drops strongly south between h72 and h78. That whole 12hour period looks rather strange to me. The jump to the north allows the surface low to set up a bit further north than what I would like to see.  I doubt the Euro or GEM will show that 12 hour phasing event.  IE, the GFS is about 4-6 hours to slow.

 

Edit:  Lets put it this way, I think the Euro will show that same vort max at h66 but it won't phase with the northern energy until the vort max over the 4 corners area goes negatively titled as it runs into the ridge, at which time we will see the phase, providing  for explosive development Sat evening.

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One concern I do have about Saturday daytime is the moisture return. Latest GFS not as robust with it as previous runs, though I don't know what the Euro shows. With temperatures well into the 80's during the day, Td's around and lower than 65F not going to cut it for tornadic activity.

If you look back for a few runs then you can really see that moisture has been trending downward.  The GFS may just be coming back to a more realistic forecast and it will level out, but it's definitely something to watch. 

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One concern I do have about Saturday daytime is the moisture return. Latest GFS not as robust with it as previous runs, though I don't know what the Euro shows. With temperatures well into the 80's during the day, Td's around and lower than 65F not going to cut it for tornadic activity.

The ECMWF has <65F DP's, with highs in the low to mid-90s.

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I'll be out there Sunday somewhere probably in Kansas.  The 12z Euro indicated surface cape up close to 3000j/kg near the dry line by early afternoon.  Definitely looking like an early initiation type of day.  Incoming mid-level jet and associated vorticity max should make for a nice string of tightly packed sups all along the surging dry line early on.  From a chasing standpoint not exactly ideal, but definitely worthy of a chase.  Deep moisture will be firmly in place by Sunday to be sure. 

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The ECMWF has <65F DP's, with highs in the low to mid-90s.

 

Wow. That moisture is really going to mix out like a rock if the insolation is strong enough to heat the boundary layer to the 90s.

 

Actually a big clue I noticed tonight: note the anticyclonic flow in the eastern GOM (again) prior and during the ejection of the trough. Moisture quality is going to be much better than it is tonight, but still not ideal because of this. The richer moisture is still confined to the Gulf Coast just 24h before the event.

 

<65F and 90F -- a 25F T/Td spread -- is marginal to say the least for any tornado, much less a significant tornado. Something to watch. The EML really cranks up after dark as well as the LLJ veers and advects hotter 850mb air over the warm sector.

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I think west-central and northwest OK are looking pretty good for Sat.  Euro and GFS both show moisture/CAPE quickly bulging north-northwest through that area by early evening.  Euro has consistently induced precip in those areas as well.  Shear profiles are very nice.  The Woodward OK area is looking very nice to me at this point...

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Wow. That moisture is really going to mix out like a rock if the insolation is strong enough to heat the boundary layer to the 90s.

 

Actually a big clue I noticed tonight: note the anticyclonic flow in the eastern GOM (again) prior and during the ejection of the trough. Moisture quality is going to be much better than it is tonight, but still not ideal because of this. The richer moisture is still confined to the Gulf Coast just 24h before the event.

 

<65F and 90F -- a 25F T/Td spread -- is marginal to say the least for any tornado, much less a significant tornado. Something to watch. The EML really cranks up after dark as well as the LLJ veers and advects hotter 850mb air over the warm sector.

 

I'm getting onboard with your pessimism for Saturday regardless of initiation, especially after witnessing moisture today ahead of the dryline. The drought is absolutely killing us, and as usual, dew points will likely verify even lower than any of the current progs on Saturday afternoon.

 

Weird things happen though. Arnett (5/4/07) and Rozel (5/18/13) are good examples where "skinny" but intense tornadoes have occurred in this part of the High Plains with large T-Td spreads but an otherwise favorable setup. As far as a widespread tornado event with multiple cyclic storms, I'd be pretty surprised.

 

Reminds me a bit of the HIGH risk bust on 6/5/08. It's weird to think about LCL issues with theta-e and CAPE are through the roof, and dew points are well above 60 F, but temperatures of 90 F will do that to you.

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I'm getting onboard with your pessimism for Saturday regardless of initiation, especially after witnessing moisture today ahead of the dryline. The drought is absolutely killing us, and as usual, dew points will likely verify even lower than any of the current progs on Saturday afternoon.

 

Weird things happen though. Arnett (5/4/07) and Rozel (5/18/13) are good examples where "skinny" but intense tornadoes have occurred in this part of the High Plains with large T-Td spreads but an otherwise favorable setup. As far as a widespread tornado event with multiple cyclic storms, I'd be pretty surprised.

 

Reminds me a bit of the HIGH risk bust on 6/5/08. It's weird to think about LCL issues with theta-e and CAPE are through the roof, and dew points are well above 60 F, but temperatures of 90 F will do that to you.

What are your thoughts on Sunday?

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