National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heavy Snow in the Cascades and Northern Rockies; Wintry Mix in the Northeast; High Winds in Southern California

Two more cold fronts will pass through the Northwest U.S. this week with heavy mountain snow continuing across the Cascades, and northern Rockies. A quick moving storm system will bring mixed precipitation including some freezing rain across the Northeast U.S. today. High winds could blow down trees and power lines in the mountains of southern California this evening through Thursday. Read More >

Automatically generated image showing areas of the convective interest parameter.

 

Thumbnail of an automatically generated image showing areas of the convective interest parameter. Thumbnail of an automatically generated image showing areas of the convective interest parameter. Thumbnail of an automatically generated image showing areas of the convective interest parameter.
Hour - 1 Hour - 2 Hour -3

4 Panel Display | Animated Loop

Convective Interest

This is a highly experimental index which attempts to show areas where surface based convection is favorable or may initiate within the next hour.  The index uses a combination of several fields, (CAPE, CIN, low level lapse rates, moisture convergence, satellite, and most unstable LI) to develop a number between -100 and 100.  Negative values are indicative of an environment not supportive of surface based convection.  The higher the value, the more favorable the environment is for surface based convection.  Values greater than 70 are suggestive that convective initiation will likely occur within the next hour in that region.  This index works best in regimes of airmass (or pulse) convection or on days where the cap is the primary inhibiting factor for convection.

Back to Convective Parameters Home