The Texas mesolow of 12 June 2003

On 11-12 June 2003 a mesolow formed over the southern portion of the Texas panhandle. The evolution of the mesolow circulation was captured in the available west Texas mesonet surface data, and the clear-air mode base velocity observations from the operational NWS Doppler radar network. The evolution of this mesolow is of interest, despite its status as a nonevent on the convective meteorological Richter scale, because the absence of deep convection permits the life cycle of a relatively simple dry vortex to be examined.

The mesolow formed in a large-scale environment that featured an unusually strong subtropical jet (STJ), with embedded mesoscale disturbances. These disturbances were associated with a rich variety of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) during 9-13 June 2003 from the New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas region east-northeastward to the lower Great Lakes. The purpose of this poster presentation is to document the evolution and life cycle of the 11-12 June 2003 mesoslow and to assess to what extent it responded to: (1) large-scale dynamical forcing associated with the STJ, (2) mesoscale forcing associated with the multiple MCSs, and (3) terrain-flow interactions over the High Plains.