BAMEX case study of the structure and evolution of the 26 June 2003 mini-bow

On 26 June 2003, during the BAMEX field experiment, an asymmetric linear MCS developed in eastern Missouri and southeastern Iowa and moved into western Illinois. Storm reports showed a swath (>100 km in length) of wind damage associated with this system extending from west-central to central Illinois, near the deployment location of the Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS). The bowing segment of this squall line propagated along an outflow boundary from previous convection. The squall line quickly dissipated after passing the MIPS as the outflow surged ahead of the convective line. This MCS was one of the few squall lines with trailing stratiform rain observed by the ground based observing systems during BAMEX. Sounding data show this system to have a relatively shallow cold pool that likely contributed to the outflow surge and subsequent decay of the squall line. This paper will detail the evolution and decay of this severe squall line, and the environment within which the squall line decayed, using instruments from the MIPS, the NOAA and NRL P-3 aircraft, Mobile GLASS sounding units, NEXRAD radar and surface observations. The vertical wind and precipitation structure will be characterized by 915 MHz profiler observations as the line passed over the MIPS. The evolution of the severe portion of this storm was observed by radar aboard both the NOAA and NRL P-3 aircraft. Multiple doppler wind syntheses will be used to analyze the three-dimensional structure of the cyclonic meso-vortex associated with the swath of wind damage.