Rising temperatures and sunshine fuel storm development in Missouri

Sunshine and temperatures continue to increase across much of in Missouri, just like what we saw this afternoon. One of many key ingredients in storm formation actually pivots off these two factors known as Cape.

This week sees rising temperatures and plenty of sunshine leading up to Friday. This gives way for increased storm chances, and here in Mid-Missouri, storms are something we are all too familiar with. One of the main factors for storm development is going to be Cape.

Cape is actually going to just be energy the environment uses to fuel these storms. So when we have increased sunshine as we go throughout the day and increasing temperatures, it actually is going to lead to an increase in Cape, which is going to help storm growth. Cape is measured in joules per kilogram. The lower the value, the more likely you are to see weaker storms and vice versa.

Cape is only one of many ingredients needed for storm formation. When we have adequate levels of each of these ingredients in the atmosphere, the chances of strong to severe storms increase. Cape tends to increase as the day goes on with sunny conditions and increasing temperatures.

When looking at Friday with the Cape Tracker, you can see we peak out just above 1000 joules per kilogram. This means the ingredient of Cape is there for storms to use as energy, increasing our chances of seeing stronger storms.

Now, if all these ingredients are met for Friday, we could see the potential for some strong to severe storms. Make sure you stay up to date with the latest forecast as we get closer to this event.