Variability in the kinematic structure of Super Tuesday storms

Several storms during the Super Tuesday Outbreak of 5-6 February 2008 passed within 30-40 km of WSR-88D radars (NQA, OHX, LOU, and GWX). A few of these storms produced tornadoes shortly before or after they passed the radar sites. The relative steadiness of the storms during passage, along with the large motion vector (from the southwest at 20-25 ms-1), allowed the application of a synthetic dual Doppler (SDD) analysis. The storm structures for the analyses include isolated supercell storms and QLCS. The SDD analyses and analyses of high-resolution single Doppler data are used to examine the kinematics of the low level-circulations and how it relates to the parent storm and tornadogenesis. For one case, the updraft maximized at about 35 m/s at a relatively low level of 3 km. This storm is examined in greater detail, including performing a complete thermodynamic retrieval that evaluates the relative magnitudes of buoyancy and vertical gradient of perturbation pressure. Vorticity and VAD analyses will also be applied. Differences in the circulations of the isolated supercells and those imbedded within the QLCS will be examined, as well as differences between tornadic and non-tornadic storms. Variations in the downdraft outflow structure of the storms will be closely examined.