Tornadogenesis Failure in the Prospect Valley, CO, Supercell of 26 May 2010 Intercepted By VORTEX2

We examine factors that contributed to tornadogenesis failure in the 26 May 2010 Prospect Valley, Colorado, supercell during a time period (2218-2248 UTC) when several sub-tornadic-strength vortices without funnel clouds were observed. The analysis relies on dual-Doppler wind syntheses obtained from two Doppler-on-Wheels radars and thermodynamic measurements provided by mobile mesonets and proximity soundings. One strength of this dataset is the small distance between the low-level mesocyclone and radars, which allows for three-dimensional wind retrievals below 100 m AGL. We will examine what attributes of the storm’s thermodynamic and kinematic fields might have precluded the intensification of the vortices, in addition to aspects of the environment that were unfavorable (e.g., a relatively high LCL). The presentation will include trajectory and circulation analyses very near to the surface, as well as comparisons to other tornadic and nontornadic storms intercepted by VORTEX2.