An Overview of the 2 March 2012 Morning Tornadic Supercells across Northern Alabama

Complex synoptic and mesoscale regimes that were in place across portions of north central Mississippi and Alabama likely resulted in a modification of the near storm environment on the morning of 2 March 2012. Of particular note was the transition from an environment that fostered weak and scattered shower activity to one that supported the sustenance of weak to strong tornadic supercells across northern Alabama.

The mulit-faceted instrumentation network across northern Alabama captured the complete evolution of the atmosphere during the aforementioned transition. The Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS) characterized both the pre and near storm environment and offers interesting insight as to the vertical wind profile that facilitated morning supercells. The Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR) captured high spatial and temporal, kinematic and microphysical evolution of the convection on the morning of 2 March 2012. In addition, ARMOR's unique capabilities allow for the study of various polarimetric signatures that provide information on both environmental and storm structure. These ARMOR observations in conjunction with similar measurements from the National Weather Service radar at Hytop, Alabama, (KHTX) provide opportunities for dual-Doppler analysis through the life cycle of the tornadic supercells. In addition, total lightning observations from the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NA LMA) as well as in-situ meteorological data from the Mobile Meteorological Measurements vehicle (M3V) will complement radar based observations made from ARMOR and KHTX.