The Initiation of Moist Convection at the Dryline: Forecasting Issues from aCase Study Perspective

Abstract

The processes that force the initiation of deep convection along the dryline are inferred from special mesoscale observations obtained during the 1991 Central Oklahoma Profiler Studies project, the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 1994 (VORTEX-94), and the VORTEX-95 field projects. Observations from aircraft, mobile CLASS soundings, and mobile mesonets define the fields of airflow, absolute humidity, and virtual temperature in the boundary layer across the dryline on the 15 May 1991, 7 June 1994, and 6 May 1995 case days. Film and video cloud images obtained by time-lapse cameras on the NOAA P-3 are used to reconstruct the mesoscale distribution of cumulus clouds by photogrammetric methods, permitting inferences concerning the environmental conditions accompanying cloud formation or suppression. The results of the present study confirm the classical notion that the dryline is a favored zone for cumulus cloud formation. The combined cloud distributions for the three cases are approximately Gaussian, suggesting a peak expected cloud frequency 15 km east of the dryline. Deep mesoscale moisture convergence is inferred in cloudy regions, with either subsidence or a lack of deep convergence in cloud-free regions. The results document the modulating effect of vertical wind shear and elevated dry layers in combination with the depth and strength of mesoscale updrafts on convective initiation, supporting the notion that moist boundary layer air parcels must be lifted to their lifted condensation level and level of free convection prior to leaving the mesoscale updraft to form deep convection. By relaxing the overly restrictive assumptions of parcel theory, it is suggested that a modification of proximity soundings to account for mesoscale lift and westerly wind shear effects can improve the diagnosis of the mesoscale dryline environment and the prediction of convective initiation at the dryline. Conversely, proximity environmental soundings, taken by themselves with consideration of CAPE and convective inhibition values according to parcel theory but neglecting vertical boundary layer circulations, are found to have less prognostic value than is conventionally assumed.