Another iffy March Chase

Well, it's certainly not ideal but it's a short drive for me and my Tuesdays are very flexible, and since the long term models look very boring for a while I'll be watching. Now that I've convinced myself that I'm not TOTALLY wasting my time looking at data I'll get on with the forecast.

I'll likely be watching SW Illinois either along Interstate 55 near Litchfield, or slightly further south towards Highland along Interstate 70. Skies are more or less clear in southern Illinois and eastern Missouri ahead of the ejecting system. 0-3 km cape values will be around 125-175 j/kg in this area juxtaposed over areas of 300 m2/s2 low level helicities. With afternoon heating, we may even see surface capes try to reach towards the 1000 j/kg mark. Temperatures will likely be surging to the mid-upper 70s along Interstate 70 with dew points around 60. VV's really start spiking in eastern Missouri and western Illinois by 4 PM as convergence increases along the boundary. Hoping the strong forcing does not immediately lead to a forced line of convection, which it very well could. The plan will be to get on any storms pretty early while there is some discrete possibility.

Probably doesn't even qualify as a "good" setup, but I'll watch it and make the 90 minute drive should things start to juice up at all down there.