Significant Heat in the Northwest U.S.; Tropical Rainfall Potential in the Southwest U.S.

A significant late season heat wave continues in the interior Pacific Northwest for at least one more day before easing somewhat Friday into Saturday. A combination of monsoonal moisture and tropical moisture ahead of tropical cyclone Lorena will bring a marginal to slight risk of excessive rainfall across the southwest U.S. through Saturday which may bring areas of flooding. Read More >

Automatically generated image showing areas of convective inhibition.


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CIN

The image is a surface based measurement of Convective INhibition (CIN) or what is sometimes more commonly referred to as the strength of the cap. The value is capped off at 500 J/KG. In cases where there is no surface based CAPE available this parameter is set to 500 J/KG.

The yellow contours are the Lid Strength Index (LSI). This is another measure of how strong the cap is. It shows the thermal difference between a lifted surface parcel and the warmest part of the cap. Higher values indicate a more stable layer.

In general, the Cap is said to be breakable when CIN is 30 J/Kg or less and/or the LSI is 2 degrees or less. A negative LSI is rare, but is indicative of freely buoyant low level instability.

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Significant Heat in the Northwest U.S.; Tropical Rainfall Potential in the Southwest U.S.

ConvectiveParameters - CIN