Heavy Rainfall to Bring Flooding Threat to California; Heavy Snow in the Sierra

A strong atmospheric river will bring heavy rainfall to California through the holiday week. The heaviest rainfall is expected on Wednesday in the Los Angeles Basin. Flash and urban flooding is possible. A prolonged heavy snowfall is expected in the Sierra Nevada from the atmospheric river, raising concerns for major snow‐load impacts. Travel may be difficult to impossible over the passes. Read More >

Automatically generated image showing areas of convective inhibition.


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4 Panel Display | Animated Loop

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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Heavy Rainfall to Bring Flooding Threat to California; Heavy Snow in the Sierra

ConvectiveParameters - CIN