Comparison of Infrasonic data and Doppler velocity radar data: A case study of the 16 June 2004 tornadic supercell over the southeast Colorado plains

During the convective season of 2003, an infrasonic network (ISNET) was deployed across the central High Plains to assess the possibility of using infrasonic sound to detect rotation in supercell thunderstorms. A 1995 observation of infrasound from an infrasonic observatory co-located with the CHILL Doppler radar in northeast Colorado documented infrasound originating from the vicinity of rotation aloft, descending to the surface in the area of a tornado report. This observation led to a review of archived data, identifying over 100 cases where the directions and times of signals matched documented observations of tornadoes. Subsequent field measurements through the summer of 2003 continued to indicate that infrasound could be useful in detecting rotation in supercell thunderstorms.

The infrasonic network sites are located at NWS Pueblo CO, at the BAO site near Mead, Colorado and at NWS Goodland, CO. During 10 May 2004, a supercell thunderstorm developed on the Palmer Divide in eastern Colorado and produced multiple tornadoes. This storm developed in a location which was well sampled by both the infrasound network and KPUX (Pueblo, CO) and KFTG (Boulder, CO) Doppler radars. This case study will compare storm relative velocity data from KPUX and KFTG to the ISNET data during the life of this tornadic supercell storm.