Kristen L. Axon, Adam L. Houston, Conrad L. Ziegler, Christopher C. Weiss, Erik N. Rasmussen, Michael C. Coniglio, Brian Argrow, Eric Frew, Sara Swenson, Anthony E. Reinhart, Matthew B. Wilson
{"title":"The potential roles of preexisting airmass boundaries on a tornadic supercell observed by TORUS on 28 May 2019","authors":"Kristen L. Axon, Adam L. Houston, Conrad L. Ziegler, Christopher C. Weiss, Erik N. Rasmussen, Michael C. Coniglio, Brian Argrow, Eric Frew, Sara Swenson, Anthony E. Reinhart, Matthew B. Wilson","doi":"10.1175/mwr-d-23-0007.1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract On 28 May 2019, a tornadic supercell, observed as part of TORUS (Targeted Observation by UAS and Radars of Supercells) produced an EF-2 tornado near Tipton, KS. The supercell was observed to interact with multiple preexisting airmass boundaries. These boundaries and attendant air masses were examined using unoccupied aircraft system (UAS), mobile mesonets, radiosondes, and dual-Doppler analyses derived from TORUS mobile radars. The cool side air mass of one of these boundaries was found to have higher equivalent potential temperature and backed winds relative to the warm side air mass; features associated with MAHTEs (mesoscale air masses with high theta-E). It is hypothesized that these characteristics may have facilitated tornadogenesis. The two additional boundaries were produced by a nearby supercell and appeared to weaken the tornadic supercell. This work represents the first time that UAS have been used to examine the impact of preexisting airmass boundaries on a supercell, and it provides insights into the influence environmental heterogeneities can have on the evolution of a supercell.","PeriodicalId":18824,"journal":{"name":"Monthly Weather Review","volume":"8 17","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Monthly Weather Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1175/mwr-d-23-0007.1","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract On 28 May 2019, a tornadic supercell, observed as part of TORUS (Targeted Observation by UAS and Radars of Supercells) produced an EF-2 tornado near Tipton, KS. The supercell was observed to interact with multiple preexisting airmass boundaries. These boundaries and attendant air masses were examined using unoccupied aircraft system (UAS), mobile mesonets, radiosondes, and dual-Doppler analyses derived from TORUS mobile radars. The cool side air mass of one of these boundaries was found to have higher equivalent potential temperature and backed winds relative to the warm side air mass; features associated with MAHTEs (mesoscale air masses with high theta-E). It is hypothesized that these characteristics may have facilitated tornadogenesis. The two additional boundaries were produced by a nearby supercell and appeared to weaken the tornadic supercell. This work represents the first time that UAS have been used to examine the impact of preexisting airmass boundaries on a supercell, and it provides insights into the influence environmental heterogeneities can have on the evolution of a supercell.
期刊介绍:
Monthly Weather Review (MWR) (ISSN: 0027-0644; eISSN: 1520-0493) publishes research relevant to the analysis and prediction of observed atmospheric circulations and physics, including technique development, data assimilation, model validation, and relevant case studies. This research includes numerical and data assimilation techniques that apply to the atmosphere and/or ocean environments. MWR also addresses phenomena having seasonal and subseasonal time scales.