Convective episodes in the east-central United States

Many systems developed over the elevated terrain during the afternoon and moved eastward, often to the coastline and even offshore. In addition, numerous systems formed to the west of the Appalachian Mountains and moved into and across the eastern U.S. study domain. In particular, many nocturnal convective systems from the central United States entered the western side of the study domain, frequently arriving at the eastern mountains around the next day's afternoon maximum in storm frequency.

A fraction of such well-timed systems succeeded in crossing the Appalachians and continuing across the Piedmont and coastal plain. Convective episodes were most frequent during the high-instability, low-shear months of summer, which dominate the year-round statistics. Even so, an important result is that the episodes still occurred almost exclusively in above-average vertical wind shear.

Despite the overall dominance of the diurnal cycle, the data show that adequate shear in the region frequently leads to long-lived convective episodes with mesoscale organization.