STATUS: IOP watch

We are watching two systems.  The first is the major wave that will move into the Plains on Tuesday, and then begin filling and moving northeast on Wednesday.  It’s possible that the southern end of this strong forcing will be in ~ eastern AR, in a region where roads and terrain do permit mobile operations.  We would not have 100% of the platforms participating because of conflicts with academic schedules.  Another wave follows this first one, and right now it appears that this one will take a more eastward track and possibly move through northern AL with an attendant week surface boundary around May 1.  If the investigators decide to operate in the MS Valley mid-week, they would retreat toward N AL for the weekend.

Right now, neither scenario looks particularly promising for tornadoes.

A decision on the mid-week MS Valley deployment will be made tomorrow 24 April.