Convective Inhibition

Convective inhibition (CIN) quantifies the energy barrier that parcels must overcome before deep convection can initiate.

Even when CAPE is high, strong CIN can suppress storm development until forcing from heating, convergence, or topography is strong enough to break the cap.

This makes CIN an important diagnostic for understanding the timing of convective onset.

See also: convective available potential energy, Cumulus convection schemes, Convective rain