The Blessings of a Small C.A.P.E.

If you awoke Saturday morning and wondered why you were able to sleep without being disturbed or awaken by severe storms in the night, count it a blessing.

Folks to the south and to the east of us were not so lucky. Perhaps you are wondering though-why all the 'hype' then about the 'potential' for severe weather? Well, the 'players' were there, but just not on the field at the same time.

The warm front that was expected to move back north into the state and supply us with a warm, humid air mass stayed mostly to the south of us. We lacked the C.A.P.E. (short for Convective Available Potential Energy) or instability needed for an outbreak in storms. The rotating wind energy, or Helicity was high though. If you have high Helicity and not-so-high CAPE, the storms can't get going enough before they are torn apart by the winds.

Here in Arkansas we usually have plenty CAPE-but not Friday. Being in LR Friday, I really couldn't get "excited" about the weather too much because it was not really warm or humid feeling up there. I checked the dew point in KLLQ (Monticello) and KLZK (LR) and there was not that vast a difference in the two points. Perhaps that should have been a clue .....

I am thankful for a small CAPE !