Beware the Cap!

The western U.S. trough made slow progress eastward yesterday into the Central Plains. The environmental setup appeared quite favorable for supercells and tornadoes to develop from Mississippi to Iowa. MSU storm chasers were out in full force and were hopeful to witness Mother Nature's spectacle. Well, Mother Nature had other plans in mind and warmly welcomed the cap to the party in Mississippi. 700 mb temperatures between 8-10 C over the Delta region limited convective initiation for most of the day. Close to sunset, storms did form along a pre-frontal trough moving along the Mississippi River, but the cap still limited the vertical extent of the storms.

Most of the severe weather reports occurred well to the north in Missouri and Iowa. This was one of the biggest busts for me in a long time, but I was more disappointed for the students who went chasing for the first time. Still, it was a great road trip and we all had a lot of fun. Significant severe weather will likely be tough to find over the next 7-10 days as an eastern U.S. trough effectively cuts off the Gulf of Mexico.