Dual-Doppler analyses of the 4 May, 2007 supercell that produced the Greensburg, KS tornado

On 4 May, 2007, an EF5 tornado destroyed much of the town of Greensburg, KS. The tornado was spawned by a supercell that had a history of producing small tornadoes and continued to produce long-lived tornadoes for several hours after the one that hit Greensburg dissipated. On this day, a mobile, 3 cm wavelength (X-band), polarimetric, Doppler radar located east of Protection, KS approximately 25 km southwest of Greensburg collected data from this supercell for nearly an hour and a half. The dataset includes the period in which the Greensburg tornado formed and ends just prior to the time the tornado hit the town.

Dual-Doppler analyses are created from the mobile X-band data and the Weather Surveillance Radar 1988-Doppler from Dodge City. The analyses are synthesized at various times before, during and after the formation of the Greensburg tornado, and the time-evolution of the wind field and storm structure are described.