OCTANE CTC/CTP Near St Joseph MO

Posted in OCTANE Speed Sandwich, SPG2024 on by Kevin Thiel.

Examining the qualitative appearance of OCTANE Cloud Top Divergence (CTD) and Cloud Top Cooling (CTC) products with storms near St Joseph MO.

First image: 2001Z. A series of updrafts is noted, several with mature CTD signals in blue/purple/red. Most notably is the signal over Leavenworth/Platte counties (largest CTD signal, near the bottom). The CTD signal here is large and mature, which implies a very strong updraft relative to the other storms in the area. The size of this feature does matter, as it implies the updraft (and thus the outspreading of the anvil) is very strong relative to the others. To add on to this, there is a CTC signal (green dot) associated with an overshooting top. This indicates that even though this storm has already produced a significant updraft, it continues to produce an overshooting top, implying the updraft is still strong and mature.

10 minutes later, things have changed. The image below is from 2011Z. Now, the CTD signal has spread out considerably and it appears the storm has past maturity. The more fragmented / strung-out appearance of the OCTANE CTD signal is a sign that the storm is likely weakening. There is also no longer a CTC signal associated with that particular anvil. Rather, it appears a new CTC signal (a new updraft) is going up on the southern flank. This is a sign that these storms are cycling and have more of a multicellular mode than a supercellular mode at the moment.

 

 

–Insolation

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