32nd Conference on Broadcast Meteorology/31st Conference on Radar Meteorology/Fifth Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes

Sunday, 10 August 2003: 11:44 AM
Comparison of single and multiple vortex tornado doppler velocities from the DOWs
Curtis R. Alexander, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; and J. Wurman
Between 1995 and 2003 the Doppler on Wheels (DOWs) mobile radar systems have observed over 40 tornadoes at close range. The Doppler velocity measurements of these tornadoes exhibit a large variation in the size, intensity, and structure of the core-flow and surrounding region. The spectrum of observed tornado core-flow structures includes velocity fields consistent with a one-cell vortex, a two-cell vortex, or an intermediate state between these two vortex models. A comparison is established between the velocity fields of several prominent tornadoes observed by the DOWs to quantify the structural differences between the apparent one-cell and two-cell tornadoes. This comparison includes differences in core-flow size, peak tangential velocities, tangential velocity gradients, and motions of any vortices on a scale smaller than the primary tornado vortex. These Doppler velocity tornado characteristics are also compared with concurrent Doppler velocity measurements from local WSR-88Ds.

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