TAMDAR Discussion Board

Use of data for convective forecast

Posted By: Phil Schumacher
Date: 22-May-05 0237Z

I just wanted to let you know we used the TAMDAR data today to examine the cap strength around the Sioux City, Iowa (SUX) area during the afternoon. We looked at a sounding from 1930 UTC and took the data and put it into NSHARP. Based upon the data we saw there was a 200 J/kg cap in place which led us to believe that convection was going to be difficult to initiate despite the fact the NAM and RUC showed the cap rapidly eroding. While isolated convection did develop, the cap was too strong for cells to organize.