Heavy Rainfall for Portions of the West and Central U.S.; Monitoring Fire Weather Conditions for New England

Tropical moisture continues to flow across portions of the Great Basin, desert Southwest and California. Isolated instances of flash flooding remains possible. Meanwhile, a storm and associated frontal boundary will focus showers and thunderstorms for the center of the nation. For New England, dry and breezy conditions could enhance favorable fire weather conditions. Read More >

Automatically generated image showing areas of storm relative helicity.


Hour - 1	Hour - 2	Hour -3

4 Panel Display | Animated Loop

Helicity (0-1 Km)

This is the 0-1 km (approximately 0-3,000 Ft. AGL) storm relative helicity which is a measure of the amount of low level wind shear available for tornadogenesis. This is not a good indicator of supercell potential which is related more strongly to 0-6 KM vertical shear. Values greater than 100 m**2/s**2, do suggest an increased threat of tornadoes provided a supercell is present. Larger values are generally better, but there are no clear "boundaries" between non-tornadic and significant tornadic supercells.

The arrows indicate the approximate right supercell storm motion using the Bunkers technique.

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Heavy Rainfall for Portions of the West and Central U.S.; Monitoring Fire Weather Conditions for New England

Convective Parameters - Helicity