SnowenOutThere

A question I’ve wondered about for a while is if our area always benefits from emls. The tor threat way back in March had a weak one and it kneecapped our cape. It seems that sometimes that temperature increase (or slower rate of decrease) does more harm than it helps.

Under the stratiform rain coming off the cells in southern Fairfax and still get .2+ inch per hour rates.

I think a fun bit of micro climatology played a part in that storm complex. Looking back at radar shows the storm popped up right over Dulles airport around 9pm. In college I learned that the delayed heat release of pavement peaks ~2 hours after the inversion layer sets. Definitely think that the local heat island of Dulles helped make a convective current that finally broke into our high CAPE environment. Now we get to watch the storm spread out through boundaries. Really goes to show how human made heat islands impact the whole area around them.

Was coaching for the IM-meet which is a mile from Dulles and that storm is a crazy lightning producer. Tons of CG strikes with loud thunder.

Agree that it could’ve been supercellular. The interesting thing I saw with the hodographs for yesterday is how the low level winds did show some shear, while of course there was no upper level support. Would make sense you get storms that rotate a bit at the low level then build up and fall down once they reach the high level without any wind shear.

You know I’ve been out hiking in all sorts of weather but I absolutely refuse to hike in either heat or storms. Heat just seems miserable and a bad idea. Storms are nightmarish to me. Was rain hiking Shenandoah white oak canyon last May when a convective cell hit. Being on the side of a mountain covered in trees with the forest floor as one stream of water and lightning going off made for a terrifying experience. Luckily it quickly moved on but I realized without radar or anything I have no clue if a storm pops up and becomes a prolific lightning producer until it’s too late to do anything. That said, rain hiking is awesome when it’s a downpour event and seeing the whole mountain running with water. However, I can’t recommend it unless 1. It’s a synoptic event that relies on upslope for its totals 2. Has no CAPE or convective energy 3. Temperatures are above 50 at lowest (ideally 55-60) and below 70ish degrees 4. Must hike from top to bottom, no parking in river valleys 5. Adding to 1, but upslope is key as it means you don’t need to drive in pouring rain and prevents a wider flood threat 6. I have my rain pants and rain jacket with a towel and change of clothes in the car 7. Bonus, but using soundings to see if peaks/valleys of your hikes are cloud covered or not is fun. Unfortunately, those days are rare. We get maybe 2-4 in spring for Shenandoah (at least the past couple years) and they disappear for summer.

Went through my area beforehand. Seems like it maxed out right over you guys though. Had intense lightning and good winds with it.

Picked up .4 in 10 minutes. Some small branches came down with the wind and now it’s raining with the sun out. Rainbows out too.

Microburst occurring under Fairfax cell. Right on the edge of it.

The outflow boundary from the south that went by Reston had legit convection associated with it. One of the stronger outflow wind gusts with it too.

2000 CAPE and a nearly saturated atmosphere at every level is pretty impressive. Not terrible lapse rates should support development too. There’s even some amount of shear, if weak. Also, would this be an event where warm rain processes matter? I know that we have abnormally warm temps in the lower-mid levels so was wondering.

I want to clarify, it’s not that parameters are even bad. It’s more so a “meh” environment compared to the powderkeg yesterday was. Do agree that outflow boundaries could help out too.

Meh. The parameters are pretty much all worse than yesterday. Should still have the potential for microbursts or storm complexes.

Looks like a boundary collision is about to take place across louden and Fairfax county.

The contrails will cause the storms. Trust the process, the patriots are in control.