Development of thunderstorm detection technique based on radar data over the Korean Peninsula

A tornado (called as "Yong-O-Reum" in Korean) in South Korea is a rare and episodic one among various types of weather phenomena. A tornado is well known to be a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud. They are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. In this study we investigated the meteorological (meso-cyclonic) features of a tornado event which was occurred on June 10, 2014 around the Seoul Metropolitan area (Go-Yang city, one among satellite cities of Seoul). Measurement data from weather radar and synoptic observation network as well as automatic weather stations were mainly employed to analyze the meso-cyclonic structure of the tornado. The spatial and temporal evolutions of the storm were revealed through the Korea Meteorological Administration's Weather Radar Network (S band) as well as the Korea Institute of Construction Technology's X band radar. The storm was lasted about 30 minutes with the maximum size of about 1km. Damage from the storm was mainly caused by the destruction of agricultural facilities (e.g., collapse of some vinyl houses) due to very strong wind (tentatively estimated as about 60 m/s) that was associated with the severe local storm.