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SKew-T Diagram for San Diego, CA

#19 San Diego, CA

CAPE:

 Decent: 489 J/kg, no CIN

Deep Layer Shear:

 Good: 0-5.6 km shear 30 knots, 0-7 km shear 80 knots, nearly unidirectional. Southwesterly winds of 115 knots at 10 km quite impressive.

Mid-level Lapse Rates:

 Decent: but only to -25 C

Freezing Level:

 7.6 kft

Overall Threat of Severe Hail:

 Slight: Much like the previous case in Oregon, this is a tough call since CAPE and lapse rates are far from ideal. However, the risk is certainly there with some CAPE and lapse rates good up to -25 C. That low freezing level should allow pretty much any size hail that forms aloft to reach the ground.

Summary of the Event:

Date of Sounding: 13 November 2003 @ 00 UTC
Very low freezing level and low EL with a strong upper level vorticity maximum offshore of southern Califorina. A stationary storm over south central Los Angeles dumped extraordinary amounts of rainfall and small hail. None of the hail was "severe", but the amount of the small hail piled up into 2-3 foot drifts.

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