Integrated In Situ, DOW, and damage observations in tornadoes during VORTEX2 and ROTATE

Analysis of the three-dimensional low-level wind field in a tornado that occurred on 25 May 2012 near Russell, Kansas will be presented. This unique data set during the ROTATE field project combines multi-level radar data taken by the Rapid Scan DOW, DOW7, DOW6, and an in situ mobile mesonet, providing an instantaneous vertical cross-section (7 levels) of winds from 3.5 m AGL (anemometer) and 9, 13, 18, 24, 30 36 m AGL (multi-beam Rapid-Scan DOW). Analyses indicate a shallow inflow layer, little dependency of the wind speed on height, and transitioning one- to two-celled vortex structures. Two-dimensional dual-Doppler analyses from DOW7 and the Rapid-Scan DOW with an unprecedented 1.6 km baseline and 7-s GBVTD analyses will be presented illustrating the rapid evolution of the low-level wind structure. Also EF ratings, damage and wind speed measurements are compared. These results will be compared with insitu/radar combined analysis from VORTEX2.