Yvette Richardson

The Second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment: VORTEX2

The second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2), which had its field phases in May and June of 2009 and 2010, was designed to explore i) the physical processes of tornadogenesis, maintenance, and demise; ii) the relationships among tornadoes, tornadic storms, and the larger-scale environment; iii) numerical weather prediction and forecasting of supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes; and iv) the wind field near the ground in tornadoes. VORTEX2 is by far the largest and most ambitious observational and modeling study of tornadoes and tornadic storms ever undertaken. It employed 13 mobile mesonet–instrumented vehicles, 11 ground-based mobile radars (several of which had dual-polarization capability and two of which were phased-array rapid scan), a mobile Doppler lidar, four mobile balloon sounding systems, 42 deployable in situ observational weather stations, an unmanned aerial system, video and photogrammetric teams, damage survey teams, deployable disdrometers, and othe...

Low-Level Winds in Tornadoes and Potential Catastrophic Tornado Impacts in Urban Areas

Using an axisymmetric model of tornado structure tightly constrained by high-resolution wind field measurements collected by Doppler on Wheels (DOW) mobile radars, the potential impacts of intense tornadoes crossing densely populated urban areas are evaluated. DOW radar measurements combined with in situ low-level wind measurements permit the quantification of low-level tornadic winds that would impact structures. Axisymmetric modeled wind fields from actual and hypothetical tornadoes are simulated to impact high-density residential and commercial districts of several major cities. U.S. census block data, satellite imagery, and other sources are used to characterize and count the number of structures impacted by intense winds, up to 132 m s−1, and estimate the level and cost of resulting damage. Census data are used to estimate residential occupancy and human casualties. Results indicate that a large and intense tornado crossing through residential portions of Chicago, Illinois, could result in tragic con...

Dual-doppler and single-doppler analysis of a tornadic storm undergoing mergers and repeated tornadogenesis

Abstract Dual-Doppler observations with unprecedented finescale spatial and temporal resolution are used to characterize the vector wind field in and near a tornado occurring near Kiefer, Oklahoma, on 26 May 1997. Analyses of the dual-Doppler vector wind fields document in detail, for the first time, several structures associated with the tornado: a proximate updraft region, a rear-flank downdraft wrapping around the tornado, a double gust front structure occluding near the tornado, and a region of enhanced vorticity separated from the tornado that may have been associated with cyclic tornadogenesis. The analyses are compared to conceptual and computer models of tornadic storms. A subsequent tornadogenesis was observed with radar every 18 s, providing a finescale temporal view of the genesis process. The genesis process was complex and the evolution of tornado intensity parameters was not monotonic in time. Low-level rotation contracted and intensified, then broadened, then contracted and intensified a se...

Tornado Maintenance Investigated with High-Resolution Dual-Doppler and EnKF Analysis

AbstractDual-Doppler wind synthesis and ensemble Kalman filter analyses produced by assimilating Doppler-on-Wheels velocity data collected in four tornadic supercells are examined in order to further understand the maintenance of tornadoes. Although tornado-scale features are not resolved in these analyses, larger-scale processes involved with tornado maintenance are well represented.The longest-lived tornado is maintained underneath the midlevel updraft within a zone of low-level horizontal convergence along a rear-flank gust front for a considerable time, and dissipates when horizontally displaced from the midlevel updraft. The shortest-lived tornado resides in a similar zone of low-level convergence briefly, but dissipates underneath the location of the midlevel updraft when the updraft becomes tilted and low-level convergence is displaced several kilometers from the tornado. This suggests that a location beneath the midlevel updraft is not always a sufficient condition for tornado maintenance, particu...

Vortex Lines within Low-Level Mesocyclones Obtained from Pseudo-Dual-Doppler Radar Observations

Abstract Vortex lines passing through the low-level mesocyclone regions of six supercell thunderstorms (three nontornadic, three tornadic) are computed from pseudo-dual-Doppler airborne radar observations obtained during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX). In every case, at least some of the vortex lines emanating from the low-level mesocyclones form arches, that is, they extend vertically from the cyclonic vorticity maximum, then turn horizontally (usually toward the south or southwest) and descend into a broad region of anticyclonic vertical vorticity. This region of anticyclonic vorticity is the same one that has been observed almost invariably to accompany the cyclonic vorticity maximum associated with the low-level mesocyclone; the vorticity couplet straddles the hook echo of the supercell thunderstorm. The arching of the vortex lines and the orientation of the vorticity vector along the vortex line arches, compared to the orientation of the ambient (barotrop...

Radar Observations of the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City Tornado

Abstract The 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City storm is unique from a weather radar perspective because a long-track violent tornado passed within close range of several Doppler radars, because a detailed damage survey was conducted immediately after the event, and because high-quality visual observations of the tornado were available. The tornado passed relatively close (15–60 km) to two fixed-location Doppler radars: the National Weather Service Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) at Twin Lakes (KTLX) and the Radar Operations Center WSR-88D test radar at Norman (KCRI). Two mobile Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radars also observed the tornado at very close range (3–8 km). The data from DOW2 are nearly continuous for a substantial portion of the tornados life and provide detailed information on the high-resolution velocity field in and around the tornado. These data permit good estimates of tornado rotational velocity and diameter. The data also allow comparison with tornado damage survey estimates of dam...

Genesis of the Goshen County, Wyoming, Tornado on 5 June 2009 during VORTEX2

AbstractThe genesis of a strong and long-lived tornado observed during the second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) in Goshen County, Wyoming, on 5 June 2009 is studied. Mobile radar, mobile mesonet, rawinsonde, and photographic data are used to produce an integrated analysis of the evolution of the wind, precipitation, and thermodynamic fields in the parent supercell to deduce the processes that resulted in tornadogenesis. Several minutes prior to tornadogenesis, the rear-flank downdraft intensifies, and a secondary rear-flank downdraft forms and cyclonically wraps around the developing tornado. Kinematic and thermodynamic analyses suggest that horizontal vorticity created in the forward flank and hook echo is tilted and then stretched near the developing tornado. Tilting and stretching are enhanced in the developing low-level circulation as the secondary rear-flank downdraft develops, intensifies, and wraps around the circulation center. Shortly thereafter, the to...

The Influence of Environmental Low-Level Shear and Cold Pools on Tornadogenesis: Insights from Idealized Simulations

AbstractIdealized, dry simulations are used to investigate the roles of environmental vertical wind shear and baroclinic vorticity generation in the development of near-surface vortices in supercell-like “pseudostorms.” A cyclonically rotating updraft is produced by a stationary, cylindrical heat source imposed within a horizontally homogeneous environment containing streamwise vorticity. Once a nearly steady state is achieved, a heat sink, which emulates the effects of latent cooling associated with precipitation, is activated on the northeastern flank of the updraft at low levels. Cool outflow emanating from the heat sink spreads beneath the updraft and leads to the development of near-surface vertical vorticity via the “baroclinic mechanism,” as has been diagnosed or inferred in actual supercells that have been simulated and observed.An intense cyclonic vortex forms in the simulations in which the environmental low-level wind shear is strong and the heat sink is of intermediate strength relative to the...

Single- and Dual-Doppler Analysis of a Tornadic Vortex and Surrounding Storm-Scale Flow in the Crowell, Texas, Supercell of 30 April 2000

Abstract Fine-resolution single- and dual-Doppler data were collected in the tornadic region of a supercell storm intercepted by two Doppler-on-Wheels radars on 30 April 2000 near Crowell, Texas. Eleven dual-Doppler analyses characterize the 2D and 3D near-surface wind fields associated with a tornado during a 13-min period. An interesting evolution of the low-level rotation is observed. Initially concentric “tornado” (∼500 m wide) and “tornado–cyclone” (∼2 km wide) radar velocity couplets make a transition into a solitary intermediate-sized (∼750 m wide) circulation that widens and makes a further transition into a two-celled multiple-vortex structure with an asymmetric distribution of vertical vorticity. The asymmetry and eventual disruption of the multiple-vortex structure may have been partially controlled by locally strong outflow winds that affect the convergence fields in its vicinity. A smaller (∼500 m wide) tornado embedded in a broad area of rotation is subsequently observed. The dual-Doppler wi...

The Pretornadic Phase of the Goshen County, Wyoming, Supercell of 5 June 2009 Intercepted by VORTEX2. Part II: Intensification of Low-Level Rotation

AbstractThe dynamical processes responsible for the intensification of low-level rotation prior to tornadogenesis are investigated in the Goshen County, Wyoming, supercell of 5 June 2009 intercepted by the second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2). The circulation of material circuits that converge upon the low-level mesocyclone is principally acquired along the southern periphery of the forward-flank precipitation region, which is a corridor characterized by a horizontal buoyancy gradient; thus, much of the circulation appears to have been baroclinically generated. The descending reflectivity core (DRC) documented in Part I of this paper has an important modulating influence on the circulation of the material circuits. A circuit that converges upon the low-level mesocyclone center prior to the DRC’s arrival at low levels (approximately the arrival of the 55-dBZ reflectivity isosurface in this case) loses some of its previously acquired circulation during the final f...