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Here’s another example of where the single radar AzShear product may have provided me with some lead time/added confidence in my warning decision making process, with the 0-2km merged product confirming the vertical depth of this circulation (first two images, below).
Further to the south along the line, the kinks within the line are that much more evident/prominent with the single radar AzShear when used in conjunction with other more traditional radar products (last image, below).
~Gritty
Forcing and storms remain well to the west of our CWA, but the atmosphere is becoming primed for strong to severe storms later this afternoon. LAPS All Sky retrievals show that ML instability has been steadily building, reaching roughly 500 J/kg along the Gulf coast.
An 8 hour loop shows how the instability has built and gives more confidence that instability will continue to build ahead of the storms to our west. 
We did feel that LAPS CAPE seemed a bit underdone given the intensity of the downstream of the convection, so we took a look at the latest NUCAPS retrievals. We examined the point in the extreme SE of our CWA.
The boundary layer on the unadjusted sounding required some adjustment to match the nearest obs, but overall, seemed to capture the general profile well. I was initially skeptical about the warm nose just above 700mb, but a similar feature was evident on the 12z sounding from TAE. This feature may have an impact on storm intensity and potential hazards, and it would be particularly helpful to see how this feature changes over time.
Sandor Clegane
Now here is an example of where the single radar AzShear product would have provided me with some lead time with respect to grabbing my attention sooner in further interrogating a tightening circulation embedded within the heart of the QLCS. As for the merged products, I was unable to gain any insight with those products for what appears to be this relatively shallow circulation.
~Gritty
GLM does a good job at capturing large flashes that appear in the stratiform region behind lines of storms. In this case looking at the Total Optical Energy for 5 minutes with 1 minute updates you can see the large flash show up (the yellows and the whites). Reflectivity from KMOB and Visible satellite are layers under the TOE data.
This large flash has Minimum Flash Area values between 1100-1700 km^2 with the Average Flash Area anywhere between 2700-3600 km^2. This is a large flash that extends back into the stratiform region (the Anvil) of the cumulonimbus clouds. You can see the lighter precipitation on the RALA (Reflectivity at Lowest Altitude) product below. The darker blocky outlined area is the Average Flash Size with other variables in the 4 panel.
One important operator note is to be careful what you time match with the GLM lightning data. In this case another forecaster had time matched with the 1 minute meso-sector of satellite and because of errors in that data the large anvil flash was skipped in the one minute GLM data. If the GLM data is the focus of your analysis always remember to time match with it and then use other data (like satellite or radar) on those time scales.
-Alexander T.
An example where mode can be inferred using AzShear products. In the first image, we’re dealing with a nice linear segment without any ‘concerning’ rotational features.
Shortly after, the AzShear product clearly highlights threat areas for QLCS tornadic development in at least two distinct locations.
Having this product up in an SA perspective, you’d be able to quickly tell when you need to start being concerned with a structure change in the line.
An example where AzShear data can show storm trends in one image without looping. As SAILS cuts come in you’re able to view rotational strength trends before the entire image is replaced by the next volume scan. Although this image is looping you can see the times when sails cuts would be overlain on one image.
Below, here’s a snapshot of an example where AzShear isn’t applicable as compared to using it in other situations. This feature is about 66 miles from the radar.
~Gritty
For this embedded tornado, it wasn’t as obvious the circulation that was developing as compared to the supercell from the previous post. It starts out as a kink in the line, which definitely was something that grabbed my attention nonetheless. From there, you can clearly see the evolution of the circulation as it tightens. Would it provide me with additional lead time in a warning? It’s possible by maybe a scan or two, but would like to see more cases using this product first before making that determination.
~Gritty
A
In watching for convection knowing that later in the simulation there will be tornadoes produced in the FL Panhandle, I took a peak at each product prior to convection. Single radar AzShear is a little far away and doesn’t pick up on it but the merged products give an early indication that a supercell is developing and beginning to rotate. Knowing this storm will produce a tornado this is very helpful as a heads up.
— lakeeffect
Looking at the 0-2km merged AzShear product, my attention was drawn to the line stretching to the SW of the KMXX radar. While I see utility in using this product more for SA, the SAILS artifact of not having the images lined up properly could lead to false interrogations of what’s actually occurring. In this first image (below), the wind field is apparent. In the second image, it looks like the wind field has separated. In the last image, it’s very clear that a slice being merged into the product shows the wind field significantly separated.
~Gritty
