Why was convection triggering?

• Conditions associated with “swap points”

  • Consider shallow Cu after failing deep Cu test (involves cloud-avg thermodynamics)
  • Deep Cu top at the highest level of positive parcel buoyancy (based only on temperature)

• Shallow convection

  • Limited checks on parcel instability within the cloud layer
  • Cloud top determined by vertical relative humidity (RH) gradients (more difficult when there are no well-defined dry, stable layers)