Micropulse Lidar Observation and Analysis of the Development of the McCook, Nebraska, Tornado

An impromptu field campaign involving the sampling of deep convective clouds using a micropulse lidar (MPL) was performed during a mid-May severe weather event in southern Nebraska. The MPL was mobile throughout the entire event and captured the cloud and aerosol environment of the EF-2 McCook Tornado. The stratiform rain (SR), anvil cloud (AC), and convective core (CC) regions of the McCook supercell were thoroughly sampled by several transits of the research vehicle. The MPL identified multiple regions of ice particles (mid-troposphere and anvil), the wall cloud base height and water information, near-surface aerosol type, and other features such as hail and convective rain activity. In addition, the tornadic vortex signature (TVS) was sampled by the MPL (2240 UTC 17 May 2019) prior to tornadogenesis (~0000 UTC 18 May 2019). A hail core from the Farnam supercell was briefly sampled (0040 UTC 18 May 2019). Much of the travel was on unpaved, dirt roads such that the MPL observed a deep layer of coarse mode particles (~2 km AGL). The portability and versatility of the MPL made this effort possible and future field observations will seek to develop best practices in reducing errors and uncertainties when deploying the MPL in a mobile setting.