Large-scale vertical velocities are shown to be closely related to the probabilities of convective precipitation and fair weather in the eastern United States during July 1955. In the daytime the mean relative humidity of the 900 to 700 mb layer is better related to the probability of convective precipitation than the vertical velocity. At night, however, vertical velocity is the best single predictor of convective precipitation, with a modified Showalter Index being a very useful additional criterion.
The large-scale vertical velocities that occur in normal summer synoptic situations appear to be produced by a diurnal variation in the momentum exchange between the ground and the air.
