Methods and sources
Methods: LCL from Bolton (1980). Moist adiabats are pseudoadiabatic and integrated numerically. CAPE and CIN use the virtual temperature correction and are integrated from the LFC to the highest equilibrium level. The ML parcel averages potential temperature and mixing ratio over the lowest 100 hPa; the MU parcel is the highest θe in the lowest 300 hPa.
Storm motion follows Bunkers et al. (2000). STP and SCP use the SPC effective-inflow-layer formulations (Thompson et al. 2007); the fixed-layer STP is also listed. SHIP follows the SPC definition, VTP Hampshire et al. (2018), WMSI Pryor & Ellrod (2004), WINDEX McCann (1994). The tropopause uses the WMO lapse-rate rule, contrails the Schmidt–Appleman criterion (Schumann 1996), and the mixing height the parcel method with the current surface temperature.
Clouds: a level is cloudy when relative humidity (with respect to ice below 0 °C) reaches a height-dependent threshold after Zhang et al. (2010): 92/95/84% below 2 km, 90/93/82% at 2–6 km, 88/90/78% at 6–12 km and 75/80/70% above (cloudy / layer peak / gap). A layer counts only if its peak reaches the second value, and layers split by gaps under 300 m that stay above the third value are merged (after Wang & Rossow 1995). Coverage comes from the layer's peak humidity using the Sundqvist et al. (1989) cloud-fraction relation. Cumulus is added from parcel theory: CB or TCU where a surface or mixed-layer parcel reaches its LFC with CIN weaker than −50 J/kg, and shallow cumulus where the boundary layer is mixed up to the LCL. Sky condition follows the METAR summation rule with random overlap; the flight category uses the ceiling only, since a sounding gives no visibility. Coarse model levels can miss thin layers.
Hazards: icing uses the −8D rule (icing where the dewpoint depression is at most −T/8) or diagnosed cloud between 0 and −30 °C, with type by temperature and cloud form, moderate as the stratiform ceiling, and severe for convective cloud or freezing precipitation. Turbulence uses vertical wind shear per 1,000 ft (light 4, moderate 6, severe 10 kt) with a step up where the Richardson number is below 0.25, plus mechanical, convective and thermal rules. Low-level wind shear follows the NWS 10 kt per 100 ft criterion or 30 kt within 2,000 ft. Temperature advection comes from the thermal-wind relation. These are published rules of thumb, not RAOB's algorithms.
Specialty screens: the severe table and storm-category zones are configurable guides; supercell type follows anvil-level storm-relative wind (Rasmussen & Straka 1998); the thickness nomogram uses 1300 m and 1540 m dividing lines; lake-effect checks follow Niziol (1995); the Kuchera snow ratio uses the warmest temperature below 500 hPa; the waterspout check simplifies the Szilagyi nomogram.
Model profiles on pressure levels (Open-Meteo) have less detail near the ground than BUFKIT native-level profiles, so low-level CIN, LCL and 0–1 km values can differ between the two for the same model. Times match when they are within 30 minutes for models and 3 hours for observed soundings.