To the point indeed....I'll definately keep all this in mind. I guess this has something to do with it but I did note that on the 1st page of this thread that the upper air was warmer than I'd like.If the atmosphere is not unstable then it doesnt matter how many potential trigger conditions there are - you could get all the people in New Zealand to stand in a field and blow upwards while farting at the same time and you still wouldn't make a cloud (except one of methane). If I can offer a word of advice, you stormchaser guys need to be thinking stability all the time, rather than worrying about temperatures and wind directions. Those factors only come into play once you have an unstable atmosphere to support a convective cloud.
If I can use an example, think of a marble and a perfectly round, semi-spherical pudding basin. Put the marble inside the pudding basin and no matter where you start it rolling from, or what direction you nudge it in, it will always end up stopped in the bottom of the pudding basin. Thats what a stable atmosphere does to any convection - it damps it out. Now, turn the pudding basin upside down and try to balance the marble on the top - if you are very lucky you might just get it to balance, but the slightest movement or breath of wind on it will send it rolling down the side of the pudding basin to end up goodness knows where. That is an unstable atmosphere - a little push is all it needs to accelerate and end up somewhere unpredictable, and convection just keeps spiralling upwards (until it meets a stable layer).
To extend the analogy, you might find it more useful to keep looking out for the shape of the pudding basin in the sky today, than worry whethere the marble will balance on the top.
I did find the bowl however in one of my previous storm day photo's and convection took off! hehe.