Tornadogenesis and Tornadogenesis Failure in Simulated Supercells

A three-dimensional idealized cloud model was used to study the storm-scale differences between simulated supercells that produce tornado-like vortices and those that do not. Each simulation was initialized with a different Rapid Update Cycle, version 2 (RUC-2), sounding that was associated with tornadic and nontornadic supercells in nature. The focus is an analysis of vorticity along backward-integrated trajectories leading up to tornadogenesis (19 simulations) and tornadogenesis failure (14 simulations). Differences in low-level thermodynamic structure were also explored. Preliminary results from sensitivity tests involving different microphysics parameterizations and the inclusion of surface drag will also be presented.