Influence of Irregular Coastlines on a Tornadic Mesovortex in the Pearl River Delta during the Monsoon Season. Part I: Pre-storm Environment and Storm Evolution

Abstract

The Pearl River Delta (PRD), a tornado hotspot, forms a distinct trumpet-shaped coastline that concaves toward the South China Sea. During the summer monsoon season, low-level southwesterlies over the PRD’s sea surface tend to be turned toward the west coast, constituting a convergent wind field along with the landward-side southwesterlies, which influences regional convective weather. This two-part study explores the roles of this unique land–sea contrast of the trumpet-shaped coastline in the formation of a tornadic mesovortex within monsoonal flows in this region. Part I primarily presents observational analyses of pre-storm environments and storm evolutions. The rotating storm developed in a low-shear environment (not ideal for a supercell) under the interactions of three air masses under the influence of the land–sea contrast, monsoon, and storm cold outflows. This intersection zone (or “triple point”) is typically characterized by local enhancements of ambient vertical vorticity and convergence. Based on a rapid-scan X-band phased-array radar, finger-like echoes were recognized shortly after the gust front intruded on the triple point. Developed over the triple point, they rapidly wrapped up with a well-defined low-level mesovortex. It is thus presumed that the triple point may have played roles in the mesovortex genesis, which will be demonstrated in Part II with multiple sensitivity numerical simulations. The findings also suggest that when storms pass over the boundary intersection zone in the PRD, the expected possibility of a rotating storm occurring is relatively high, even in a low-shear environment. Improved knowledge of such environments provides additional guidance to assess the regional tornado risk.