National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Coastal and Marine Impacts from Imelda and Humberto as Both Track Away from the Southeast U.S.

Swells and high surf from both Imelda and Humberto are expected to bring dangerous marine and rip current conditions to the east coast of Florida and Georgia today, spreading north along much of the east coast of the U.S. this week. Heavy rainfall north and west of Imelda falling across coastal Florida and Georgia into the Carolinas could cause isolated flash and urban flooding through Tuesday. Read More >

Automatically generated image showing areas of convective inhibition.

 

Thumbnail of automatically generated image showing areas of convective inhibition. Thumbnail of automatically generated image showing areas of convective inhibition. Thumbnail of 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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