A detailed aerial and ground survey of a long track (~50 km) F5 tornado is presented. Two sections of the tornado�s path exhibited unusual nonlinear movements. One portion of the track was associated with a pronounced sinusoidal pattern while another location was characterized by a cusp-like pattern. For the first time, high-resolution dual-Doppler wind syntheses using ELDORA (Electra Doppler Radar) were collected on the tornado when it was making these deviations from a linear path. The ELDORA analyses suggest that these departures are trochoidal marks produced as the tornado was revolving within the larger-scale mesocyclone. Retrieved perturbation pressures indicate that the mesocyclone departed significantly from a cyclostrophically-balanced state during these deviations.

The characteristics of the mesocyclone at low levels were shown to be a poor indicator of tornado�s intensity. Vertical cross sections of wind, vertical vorticity, radar reflectivity, and perturbation pressure were photogrammetrically superimposed onto two pictures of the tornado. This merger of data provides a unique view of the structural relationship between the hook echo and the mesocyclone. One of the important conclusions was the lack of a definitive relationship between the widths of the mesocyclone and the tornado.