Evolution of a tornadic supercell and its environment sampled by the Phased Array Radar and Oklahoma City Micronet

Both the National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar (NWRT PAR) and the Oklahoma City Micronet sampled a cyclic, tornadic supercell on 10 February 2009 as it moved northeast across the western sides of Oklahoma City. The evolution of this supercell and its surrounding environment was also sampled by the TDWR, the WSR–88D, and the Oklahoma Mesonet. The rapid update and high-spatial resolution of these data sets, collected near a high–population center, make this a unique event.

Preliminary analysis of these data show that as the storm moved into western Oklahoma County, a hook echo and subsequent EF2 tornado formed. As this storm moved northeast, an extensive cold pool spread southeast behind the outflow. Another supercell approached the cold pool from the southwest shortly thereafter. Interestingly, the second supercell never produced a tornado. The combined datasets present the opportunity to investigate the impact of cold pools on the evolution of these supercells. Findings will be presented at the conference.