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10/01/09 FCST: NE/KS/OK/TX/MO

I'm not sold on this setup folks. I think its going to be a bunch of junk in the jungles, but please ridicule this forecast as I hope its wrong...

http://twisterdata.com/index.php?so...put=image&archive=false&sounding=y&sndclick=y

South central Missouri forecast sounding at 0z. That's right on the instability axis, note the unidirectional wind profile and mediocre surface winds. 6km shear at 30-40 knots supports severe weather, but its not overly impressive either, especially when trying to justify the meager Cape. The bulk of the energy looks like its going to be north of the warm front and lagging west behind the cold front. The best directional shear is ahead of the instability axis in Illinois.

I also noticed that there is a cap in place until mid afternoon. While this would generally be a good thing, as it suppresses convection until the atmosphere is more primed, I don't doubt we'll have early initiation of an elevated line. Any play off of this line is going to have to wait until mid afternoon when the inhibition erodes and the cells can become rooted to the surface. Hopefully there won't be a solid, congealed mess by then. At 0z this line should also be situated over central MO and AR. So given, the meager instability, rough terrain of the Ozarks and southern MO, and the unimpressive hodos, I think tomorrow is going to be a real tough play. Can you get enough clearing to eek out some instability, catch a break in the line, and in someplace with a view? Maybe.

Some positives: The LCLs are going to be ground hugging thanks to the lack of surface heating from early convection. Storm speeds don't look too bad over the instability axis since hte bulk of the speed shear is behind the front. If the atmosphere does contradict the models and clears early, we could have a decent severe event.
 
I have hope for my area tomorrow. Ill be chasing over around Tahlequah, OK and east. Both models are encouraging, The GFS was actually more encouraging than the NAM for once in this past week. I like how it shows more energy up into NE OK. I would like to see the winds backing rather than veering, They aren't veering badly but they are definitely not backing, I think that's what I am seeing or do I need to brush up on that forecasting term lol? I wish the shear was more abundant in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. I do see a definite DL with the GFS. Also the 4km wrf is nice. If that verified I would hop on one of the supercells that fire in E. OK before they went into a broken line segment. Ill be chasing NE OK NW AR tomorrow PM me if you wanna keep in contact.
 
I know some a pretty in to the 4km simulated radar output, so I figured it's worth mentioning it seems pretty keyed up about tomorrow. Forecasting supercells along the warm front in northern Missouri and potentially western Illinois, along with potential tornado producers along the cold front from Chillicothe, MO southward into northern Arkansas.

This seems fairly in line with what I was predicting earlier in this thread. Not sure how realistic the scenario is, as it still goes largely against the NAM and GFS solutions which are very against producing any sizable cape aside from the jungles over southern Missouri and Arkansas.

Springfield, Missouri looks to be in the line of fire once again. I'd look to this area along north-south Highway 65 in central and southern Missouri to be potentially under the gun tomorrow from 3-6 PM. Earlier in the day, I still would not rule out a few tornado warnings / reports along the warm front in northern / northeast Missouri, near Kirksville and then potentially even into portions of western Illinois. That second area is a really big *if* right now, and will require very close monitoring of real time data once tomorrow rolls around.
 
Wow look at the meso analysis, already 1500 CAPE covering most Central OK. it's 9 am,and sig torn fixed layer is already a 4. Hopefully this pre-frontal junk will evaporate hah and we can get some more clearing...
 
No chasing for me today. I don't like all the convection that has fired this morning in front of the blasting cold front. Looks like a squall line across MO and AR with meager CAPES. The highest dewpoints will remain in TX while the best dynamics are in IA. This system is simply uncoupled and will be a waste of upper energy. Still, if I had to pick a target town, it would be FSM. Looking forward to the next system.
 
This pre frontal junk is putting a damper on my plans to chase. I might just hang out and wait for the squall line tonight for lightning shots.

If we can get some of this mess to die down, instability will shoot up, LIs already at -7 in north central TX. RUC is still showing some decent 0-1km SRH helicities along with CAPE near 2000 J/kg this afternoon.

I am not giving up but I am not as excited about this set up as I was say 36 hours ago.
 
No chasing for me today. I don't like all the convection that has fired this morning in front of the blasting cold front. Looks like a squall line across MO and AR with meager CAPES. The highest dewpoints will remain in TX while the best dynamics are in IA. This system is simply uncoupled and will be a waste of upper energy. Still, if I had to pick a target town, it would be FSM. Looking forward to the next system.

I agree with Tim. This system is moving too fast and the upper level energy is in the wrong place. That said, Td's are running in the upper 60's to low 70's in eastern OK at this hour and the moisture return is substantial. Just looking out the window here in TUL this am confirms that.

What I do like is the clear slot that is just south of the Tulsa area. With the CAPE values > 2000 forecast for this afternoon and the forcing from the approaching cold front, I think we may get something to fire in eastern OK. My target would be Muskogee, OK around 2PM. While it is close to home, the small window for sup's and the terrain make me choose to sit this one out.

Full write up can be found here at my blog: http://ke5zol.blogspot.com/
 
Now that its closing in, Things are looking better for Eastern OK. Its a shame this terrain blows down to the Southeast of Tulsa. Ill follow any storm east from Muskogee, to the AR border. With the current parameters I have faith in a supercell, It may be hard with the veering winds to get a spin up. The CF is just barely east of I-35 in the northern most part of OK. Hope it stays there bit longer...
 
Now that its closing in, Things are looking better for Eastern OK. Its a shame this terrain blows down to the Southeast of Tulsa. Ill follow any storm east from Muskogee, to the AR border. With the current parameters I have faith in a supercell, It may be hard with the veering winds to get a spin up. The CF is just barely east of I-35 in the northern most part of OK. Hope it stays there bit longer...

Umm...according to the Mesonet, the CF is almost in Tulsa ATTM(11:40AM)....cap is holding. Maybe a play in SE Okla today, but I doubt it.
 
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