Structure and evolution of the 29 May 2004 Geary, OK tornadic supercell thunderstorm

Two mobile C-band Doppler SMART radars sampled a high-precipitation supercell storm that produced numerous tornadoes. Dual-Doppler data were collected nearly continuously for a three hour period at a sampling rate of every 2.5 minutes. In this presentation, we will show the structure and evolution of the three-dimensional flow focusing on the storm-scale dynamics around the time of tornadogenesis. In particular, six dual-Doppler analyses, spaced 5-minutes apart will be used to examine the evolution of the vertical drafts and the tilting and stretching of vertical vorticity by storm-scale processes during one of the tornado events while the storm was in an optimal sampling area.

This case illustrates the temporal and spatial scales that will likely be retrieved for other supercell storms sampled by the SMART radars during the upcoming VORTEX2 field campaign.