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2015-04-07 EVENT: N TX/OK/KS

There is certainly some cumulus all along the surface wind shift from near KC back southwest into north central Oklahoma as of 6 p.m. and the SPC mesoanalysis data seems to confirm what earlier-day model-forecast soundings suggested in that MLCIN would be minimized along that corridor by this time. So, it seems like capping at the base of the EML isn't particularly strong right now...but it also seems like forcing for ascent is also rather weak. I often look at 500-MB height tendencies to get a feel for synoptic-scale subsidence and that very often serves as a good proxy for whether surface-based storms will develop in a marginally-forced mesoscale environment like this, and over the last few hours 500-MB heights have been relatively neutral in southeastern Kansas, suggesting the probability of initiation may be somewhat low. There are a bit "better" 500-MB height falls in the KC area per RAP-based data viewed on the SPC mesoanalysis page, and convergence along the wind shift may be a bit better there...so maybe it's that area into west central Missouri that has the relatively greater chance of surface-based development in the next few hours. Recent HRRR simulations key on that, as well as down the line into far northern Oklahoma (like they've been doing), but it seems like something will need to happen in short order for this to turn into something. Composite radar imagery doesn't seem to suggest the cumulus is deepening enough for real updrafts to show themselves yet, so time may be running out before boundary layer cooling starts increasing MLCIN again.
 
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Yep these are trying too... off 166 in kansas.
 
This turned out to be a pretty active day, but mostly farther east. An elevated supercell formed in central MO and grew upscale into an MCS as it moved east across the western and southern parts of the St. Louis metro area and on into southern IL and IN and on into KY. Over 80 entries on the NWS St. Louis LSR summary, mostly hail (up to 2" in diameter) and heavy rain/flash flooding, then more in the way of wind damage in the Paducah and Louisville CWAs as the system moved ESE. Did notice one report of baseball hail in the Louisville LSRs, though.

Eventually southeast KS and western MO did fire, with even a couple tornadoes reported in southeast KS, but not until after dark.
 
Early runs of the HRRR is wanting to break out some storms this afternoon. The HRRR has actually done a pretty good job the last few weeks.

If only the HRRR had a "trust me this time" flag so we knew when it was on target and when it wasn't... I rarely trust it with convection unless it's a big forcing event.
 
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