A case study of a long-lived supercell in the 12 March 2006 severe weather outbreak

During the afternoon of March 12, 2006, a supercell thunderstorm developed over the Central Plains and tracked across several states including Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois producing several tornadoes and very large hail along its path. This thunderstorm remained discrete for approximately 14 hours and maintained supercell characteristics for nearly the entire time, before finally merging with a larger complex of thunderstorms near the border between Indiana and Michigan. This study examines the processes which caused the development of thunderstorms on the afternoon of March 12 and those which enabled this particular cell to maintain supercell characteristics for the length of time and distances which it did. Additionally this study examines the life cycle of this supercell and the reasons why it produced tornadoes primarily in central Missouri and central Illinois, but produced large hail for most of its lifetime.