A preliminary analysis of a tornadic supercell using mobile, phased-array Doppler radar data

During the early evening of 23 May 2008, supercells that spawned several tornadoes in Ellis County, KS were scanned by a mobile, phased-array Doppler radar, the MWR-05XP. Oversampled (in azimuth and elevation) volumetric data (up to 20° in elevation) of the supercell were obtained every ~15 sec for a period of ~50 min, a time period that coincides with at least two tornadoes. Data were collected during a time period that encompasses the entire lifecycle of an EF1 tornado that occurred near Hog Back, KS at a range of 15-20 km from the radar. Data also were obtained during the second half of the lifecycle of another tornado, rated EF0, which occurred north of Ellis, KS. The evolution of the cyclonic vortex associated with the Hog Back tornado will be examined over very short time scales at all levels in the storm both before and after tornadogenesis; how these cyclonic shear signatures developed vertically over time also will be discussed. In addition, features of the Ellis tornado will be examined briefly, including the development and decay of an occasionally strong anticyclonic vortex that was located east and northeast of the Ellis tornado for ~10 min. [This talk will differ from H.B. Bluestein et al.'s MWR-05XP talk in that this talk will provide a quantitative, rather than a qualitative analysis of the high-temporal resolution data collected on 23 May 2008.]