Analyses of Radar Rotational Velocities and Environmental Parameters for Tornadic Supercells in Tropical Cyclones

The primary severe-local-storms hazard in tropical cyclones (TCs) is supercellular tornadoes. As a subset of a larger project to examine rotational velocities and environmental parameters for a filtered dataset of severe thunderstorms, we analyze ≈100 tornadic TC supercells and marginal supercells from 2009–2013 for their distributions of peak rotational velocity (Vrot) at 0.5° beam elevation, echo tops, copolar cross-correlation coefficient minima (if detected), environmental parameters, and their relationship with damage rating. Since TC tornadoes tend to be weaker and shorter-lived than their non-TC counterparts, only EF0–EF2 events exist for this time period, and statistical distinctions vary greatly in this dataset. For example, preliminary examination indicates greater Vrot for EF1+ events than EF0, much weaker Vrot for EF0 events in marginal supercells than supercells, and as tornado rating increases, only minor increases (with considerable overlap) in the distributions of derived environmental quantities, such as the significant tornado parameter.