Here is an example where the convective initiation algorithm performed poorly (click to animate):

In this example, both instability and shear were very weak:

In contrast, here is an example where the convective initiation algorithm performed well (click to animate):

In this example, there was moderate instability, but shear was still weak:

From these examples, it appears the convective initiation algorithm (which uses environmental parameters) doesn’t do as good a job in poor environmental conditions. The algorithm especially seems sensitive to instability.

Polarimetric Researcher