 The question we're going to explore is, if values of CAPE are approximately equal at two different locations are the potential updraft speeds also equal? The answer is not necessarily. To see what I mean, check out the 0zSQT at Norman, Oklahoma from April 5th, 2010. Now on this sounding, CAPE is shaded in yellow, and the CAPE value, which was calculated by a computer, is 1,496 joules per kilogram. Now compare that sounding to the one from Charleston, South Carolina at 0z on August 6th, 2010. Again CAPE is shaded in yellow, and the CAPE on this sounding is 1,538 joules per kilogram. So that's a similar value to the Norman sounding, and they're approximately equal to within a couple percent. But what's different about the two profiles? At Charleston, the CAPE is kind of tall and skinny, while the positive area on the Norman sounding is notably shorter and fatter. The temperature difference between the environment and an air parcel that's rising is greater on the Norman sounding. Now that has important implications. This fatter CAPE at Norman translates to stronger buoyancy at lower altitudes, and that means greater accelerations and greater upward velocities at lower altitudes. So in general, a shorter fatter positive area corresponds to potentially faster updrafts at lower altitudes compared to tall, skinny positive areas. And that assumes that CAPE and all other factors are approximately equal. Now these distinctions can impact the micro-physical processes going on in clouds, and there are possible implications for severe weather. One possible implication to stronger updrafts at lower altitudes is that a storm's propensity to produce hail or damaging winds might be enhanced when updrafts are stronger at lower altitudes. Now there are some techniques that exist to try to level the playing field for tall, skinny CAPES versus shorter fatter CAPES. And the Storm Prediction Center has plots of normalized CAPE, and normalized CAPE is CAPE divided by the depth of the buoyancy layer. And so smaller values of normalized CAPE around 0.1 or less suggest tall, skinny CAPE. Meanwhile, larger values of 0.3 to 0.4 or even higher indicate shorter fatter CAPE and potentially faster vertical accelerations in the lower troposphere. So although normalized CAPE does have forecasting utility, really the best practice is to actually look at skew tees and get a real sense for the vertical structure of the troposphere. Thank you.