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Abstract It has long been observed that interactions of a supercell with other storms or storm-scale boundaries sometimes seem to directly instigate tornadogenesis. First, the authors explore the frequency of such constructive interactions. WSR-88D radar data are used to categorize 136 tornadic supercells into isolated supercells and supercells that interacted with external factors within 20 min before tornadogenesis. Most cases (80%) showed some form of external influence prior to tornadogenesis. Common patterns of interactions, the typical supercell quadrant that is affected, and changes in azimuthal shear are also identified. To further study these interactions, two sets of idealized CM1 simulations are performed. The first set demonstrates that the speed of the near-ground horizontal flow relative to the updraft can control whether a vortex patch develops into a tornado. A weaker updraft-relative flow is favorable because the developing vortex stays in the updraft region longer and becomes less tilted. Building on these results, it is shown that external outflow can lead to tornado formation by a deceleration of the updraft-relative flow. The deceleration is caused by the pressure gradient force associated with the external outflow, which is already noticeable several kilometers ahead of the outflow boundary. This offers another possible mechanism by which external outflow can act as a catalyst for supercell tornadogenesis.
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A New Pathway for Tornadogenesis Exposed by Numerical Simulations of Supercells in Turbulent Environments
Abstract A simulation of a supercell storm produced for a prior study on tornado predictability is reanalyzed for the purpose of examining the fine-scale details of tornadogenesis. It is found that the formation of a tornado-like vortex in the simulation differs from how such vortices have been understood to form in previous numerical simulations. The main difference between the present simulation and past ones is the inclusion of a turbulent boundary layer in the storm’s environment in the present case, whereas prior simulations have used a laminar boundary layer. The turbulent environment contains significant near-surface vertical vorticity (ζ> 0.03 s−1atz= 7.5 m), organized in the form of longitudinal streaks aligned with the southerly ground-relative winds. Theζstreaks are associated with corrugations in the vertical plane in the predominantly horizontal, westward-pointing environmental vortex lines; the vortex-line corrugations are produced by the vertical drafts associated with coherent turbulent structures aligned with the aforementioned southerly ground-relative winds (longitudinal coherent structures in the surface layer such as these are well known to the boundary layer and turbulence communities). Theζstreaks serve as focal points for tornadogenesis, and may actually facilitate tornadogenesis, given how near-surfaceζin the environment can rapidly amplify when subjected to the strong, persistent convergence beneath a supercell updraft. Significance StatementIn high-resolution computer simulations of supercell storms that include a more realistic, turbulent environment, the means by which tornado-like vortices form differs from the mechanism identified in prior simulations using a less realistic, laminar environment. One possibility is that prior simulations develop intense vortices for the wrong reasons. Another possibility could be that tornadoes form in a wide range of ways in the real atmosphere, even within supercell storms that appear to be similar, and increasingly realistic computer simulations are finally now capturing that diversity.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2150792
- PAR ID:
- 10491013
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Meteorological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Volume:
- 81
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0022-4928
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 481-518
- Size(s):
- p. 481-518
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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