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Short-Term Severe/Flooding Discussion


Quincy
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I get the sense that there may be a surprise or two in E SD (perhaps somewhere in the Mitchell vicinity) this afternoon/evening looking at the overall synoptic setup. Pretty healthy dynamically in the low levels with favorable proximity to the triple point, although deep layer shear is a bit marginal for supercells.

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Tuesday looks like a short window of opportunity in eastern SD and adjacent areas of southwest Minnesota. Though the NAM has amped up CAPE and LI, lapse rates may not be quite that high. However, a local area of excellent turning of wind with height is forecast.

An isolated cell ahead of the line could get going along the boundary intersection with the polar front/dry line hybrid. Another option for rotation is early in the life cycle of the main line. SPC touches on rotation but seems somewhat of an after thought. Mostly cloudy skies are forecast through early to mid-afternoon. Quicker clearing would allow greater heating and perhaps more tornado risk.

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The latest HRRR shows several storms developing in this area. Many of them seem to be linear-- there are no highly intense updraft helicity tracks. I think tornadoes are possible, but there probably won't be many.  I think there will be few reports of 2"-3" hail, probably several reports of 1"-2" hail and wind damage.

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One confirmation of a tornado in the last few minutes

 

* Tornado Warning for...
  Southwestern Spink County in northeastern South Dakota...

* Until 815 PM CDT

* At 740 PM CDT, a confirmed tornado was located near Spottswood, or
  12 miles south of Redfield, moving northeast at 35 mph.

  HAZARD...Damaging tornado and quarter size hail.

  SOURCE...Weather spotters confirmed tornado.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Could be a window for a nice sup or two in the central High Plains (specifically NW KS and SW NE) late tomorrow afternoon/evening. Strong flow aloft and good veering in the lowest 3 km will make for favorable shear profiles, although moisture may be a bit on the marginal side for tornadic potential especially if mixing is more than forecast. There is a fairly strong signal amongst the CAMs for supercell development and modest upsloping associated with the backed low level flow near the lee cyclone should allow for it along with moderate large scale forcing for ascent.

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MCD out for an imminent tornado watch in the High Plains.

   Mesoscale Discussion 1678
   NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
   0239 PM CDT Sun Oct 01 2017

   Areas affected...Central High Plains

   Concerning...Severe potential...Tornado Watch likely 

   Valid 011939Z - 012045Z

   Probability of Watch Issuance...95 percent

   SUMMARY...Severe threat is increasing across the central High
   Plains. Tornado Watch is warranted for this region and will likely
   be issued by 2030z.

   DISCUSSION...Large-scale forcing for ascent is spreading across the
   central Rockies with high-based convection increasing across the
   northern CO Rockies into the High Plains where boundary-layer
   moisture is somewhat limited at the time. This activity is expected
   to mature over the next few hours as it encounters increasingly
   moist air mass from extreme northeast CO into southwest NE. Bow-type
   structures may ultimately evolve from this activity as it propagates
   northeast along a boundary draped across this region.

   Farther south, strong boundary-layer heating has contributed to a
   substantial dry line surge into northwest KS. CU field is increasing
   in areal coverage both west and east of the dry line, indicative of
   convective temperatures being breached. It appears thunderstorms
   will evolve across northwest KS over the next few hours and
   shear/instability favor discrete supercells. Latest HRRR model
   guidance supports this idea with two distinct scenarios evolving
   this evening. While storm mode may favor wind/hail with activity
   spreading across northeast CO into southwest NE, higher
   moisture/instability across northwest KS into south-central NE
   suggests a few tornadoes may evolve from supercells across this
   region. Tornado watch will likely be issued within the hour to
   account for this threat.

   ..Darrow/Guyer.. 10/01/2017
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Watch two areas this afternoon:

1. Far northeastern CO into SW NE. The environment appears unimpressive given a dearth of low level moisture (dews in the 40s), but shear is highly favorable to support rotating updrafts given sufficient buoyancy. Any cells that remain discrete/semi-discrete into SW NE may pose the greatest risk to produce very large hail and an isolated tornado. 

2. West-central to NW KS. Stronger low-level flow resides here, along with much more favorable low level thermodynamic profiles. CAMs have more or less shown one robust updraft going up near what appears to be faint boundary in the vicinity of Leoti. If a sustained cell can form here, a long-lived supercell would seem possible, if not probable, continuing into north-central KS early this evening. The parameter space around 23-02z would easily support a tornado given boundary layer dews in the lower 60s, lowering LCLs (already lower than areas to the NW this afternoon) and a low-level jet strengthening to 40-50+ knots at 850mb.

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Pretty strongly worded AFD coming out of DDC with regards to tomorrow's severe threat.

Quote

National Weather Service Dodge City KS
355 PM CDT Thu Oct 5 2017

...Updated Short Term and Long Term Section...

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Friday)
Issued at 354 PM CDT Thu Oct 5 2017

The main interest in the forecast is severe weather potential
tomorrow. This may be the best fall severe weather setup for
southwest Kansas this year (and perhaps the last several years). A
compact mid level potential vorticity anomaly will be at the base of
a sharp trough over Colorado late in the day, and this will induce
low level cyclogenesis just out ahead of it over far southeast
Colorado. Intense low level convergence will develop at the surface
low as well by late afternoon. Initially veered out surface winds
will slowly back to due south, if not slightly east of due south in
a very small area just ahead of the low. This is clearly the area of
greatest concern for the most vigorous severe local storm anytime
after 21z. This could be as far west as the Colorado border,
initially.

All ingredients from available moisture, convergence, deep layer
shear, low level shear, mid level cold advection, etc. are pointing
to aggressive severe storms, including supercells. The most vigorous
supercell storm could produce baseball size hail. Tornado potential
would be greatest early in the event, through about 00z or so, as 0-
1km bulk shear will be about 20-25 knots. Early CAMs runs of WRF-ARW
and WRF-NMM show supercell development at the greatest surface
convergence in southwest Kansas, not far from Dodge City. A
supercell may very well be underway, as mentioned earlier, well to
the west of Dodge City and even Garden City. The main question will
be how long supercell phase would last.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

D3 ENH, partially hatched for N TX and a good chunk of OK. Given the forcing near the cold front and it's rather fast motion, convection will almost certainly be linear/undercut with time in that area (damaging winds, etc.). I'm a bit curious to see if we can get a few discrete cells popping out ahead given the degree of forecast low level shear and considerable BL moisture content (into the upper percentile for this time of year in this area) across guidance.

This prospect would be more likely in a case where a more well developed secondary surface low can develop along the low pressure trough extending southward from the primary low over the Prairies, which would then amplify low level convergence/surface backing ahead of the front. Such a low is spurned on by the southern in a pair of vorticity maxima that emerges from the Four Corners region through the morning and afternoon Saturday. There is also a bit of a coupled upper jet structure overhead enhancing divergence aloft, which would also imply increased large scale ascent ahead of the front.

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7 hours ago, andyhb said:

D3 ENH, partially hatched for N TX and a good chunk of OK. Given the forcing near the cold front and it's rather fast motion, convection will almost certainly be linear/undercut with time in that area (damaging winds, etc.). I'm a bit curious to see if we can get a few discrete cells popping out ahead given the degree of forecast low level shear and considerable BL moisture content (into the upper percentile for this time of year in this area) across guidance.

This prospect would be more likely in a case where a more well developed secondary surface low can develop along the low pressure trough extending southward from the primary low over the Prairies, which would then amplify low level convergence/surface backing ahead of the front. Such a low is spurned on by the southern in a pair of vorticity maxima that emerges from the Four Corners region through the morning and afternoon Saturday. There is also a bit of a coupled upper jet structure overhead enhancing divergence aloft, which would also imply increased large scale ascent ahead of the front.

The 12z GFS is showing a hint of a possible secondary low developing perhaps along the I-40 corridor near Elk City by 0z Saturday evening. If that comes to fruition, there could be a locally enhanced area in central and southern/SW OK.

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  • 1 month later...

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