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Skew-T Diagram for Hilo, HI

#11 Hilo, Hawaii

CAPE:

 Good: 1350 J/kg, but fairly narrow CAPE profile, no CIN

Deep Layer Shear:

 Weak: 20-25 knots 0-6 km shear because of veering profile, but 60 knot westerly winds at 11 km is impressive for the tropics

Mid-level Lapse Rates:

 Decent: Moist adiabatic from +10 C and above

Freezing Level:

 12.0 kft

Overall Threat of Severe Hail:

 Slight: Unusual to have a thermodynamic profile in the tropics like this. Because of the CAPE profile and decent lapse rates in the growth, severe hail is a possibility even in Hawaii.

Summary of the Event:

Date of Sounding: 26 January 2004 @ 00 UTC
Storms formed all across Hawaii on the afternoon of the 25th. An F0 tornado was photographed on Oahu at 23:45 UTC. On the big island, there was one report of 0.75 inch hail, occurring at 1:15 UTC in Hilo (not a bad proximity sounding). This proves the point that if the right atmospheric conditions are in place, severe hail can occur anywhere in the U.S.
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