Mobile Mesonet Observations Near Vorticity Rivers in Supercells

High-resolution simulations of supercells produce a “river” of streamwise vorticity in the forward flank that feeds the low-level mesocyclone. Studies of these simulations suggest that these vorticity rivers may impact low-level mesocyclogenesis and tornadogenesis. In this study, we attempt to reconcile the characteristics of simulated vorticity rivers with observations by analyzing the near-surface thermodynamic and kinematic fields in the region of the supercell where simulations produce vorticity rivers. Near-surface fields come from mobile mesonet observations collected during several field projects including VORTEX, VORTEX2, and RiVorS. A preliminary analysis of thermodynamic and kinematic features near suspected vorticity rivers in observed supercells will be presented.