Alert archive / California / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 360

March 25, 2012Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, California

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 25, 2012, 12:48 PM PDT for Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, California. It was in force for 87 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 25, 2012, 12:48 PM PDT (19:48 UTC)
Expired: Mar 25, 2012, 2:15 PM PDT
In force: 87 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Santa Barbara County, CA, Ventura County, CA

The radar

The Los Angeles radar (KVTX), 22 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:51 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 119 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 89 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

251 
ACUS11 KWNS 251949
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 251948
CAZ000-252115-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0360
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0248 PM CDT SUN MAR 25 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SANTA BARBARA...VENTURA...AND LOS ANGLES COUNTIES

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY

VALID 251948Z - 252115Z

MARGINAL THREAT FOR HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...AS WELL AS GUSTY
WINDS AND PERHAPS A BRIEF WATERSPOUT/TORNADO...WILL EXIST DURING THE
AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING FOR SANTA BARBARA...VENTURA...AND LOS
ANGELES COUNTIES. A WW IS NOT LIKELY.

WV AND VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOW A VORT MAX AND ASSOCIATED
PLUME OF ASCENT QUICKLY MOVING EWD TOWARD COASTAL SRN CA THIS
AFTERNOON. AS COLD MIDLEVEL TEMPERATURES /I.E. AOB -20C/ LOCATED
IMMEDIATELY BEHIND A LEADING CLOUD BAND LOCATED APROX 60 MILES SW OF
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SPREAD TOWARD THE COAST...LAPSE RATES ARE
FORECAST TO STEEPEN /NEAR 7 C PER KM IN THE 700-500 MB LAYER/...AND
MUCAPE VALUES WILL INCREASE TO AROUND 300-500 J/KG. THIS
DESTABILIZATION WILL SUBSEQUENTLY AID IN DEEPENING AND STRENGTHENING
UPDRAFTS...AS EVIDENT BY RECENT OFFSHORE LIGHTNING STRIKES. AS A
RESULT...THERE WILL BE SOME POTENTIAL FOR MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL AND
GUSTY WINDS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS FRONTAL SQUALLS AND POST
FRONTAL CELLULAR ACTIVITY MOVE ONSHORE FROM SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
SEWD INTO VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES. IN ADDITION...GIVEN
BACKED SURFACE WINDS OVER THE L.A. BASIN NWWD INTO COASTAL PORTIONS
OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY...A BRIEF WATERSPOUT OR TORNADO CAN NOT BE
RULED OUT.

..GARNER.. 03/25/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...SGX...HNX...LOX...

LAT...LON   34081925 34301954 34392046 34812048 34921934 33851799
            33661837 34081925

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in California, 2012 Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.