Comparison Between Tornadic and Non-Tornadic Supercells

It is now well-known that only a small fraction of supercells produce tornadoes during their life cycle. A quick survey of the literature, however, reveals that most of the research on this subject has been focused on tornadic storms. A thorough documentation of the non-tornadic supercell will be required in order to have a complete understanding of the mechanism(s) that trigger tornadogenesis.

The talk will present a detailed comparison between the Garden City (tornadic) and Hays (non-tornadic) supercells that were sampled with ELDORA (Electra Doppler Radar) during VORTEX. The emphasis will be on attempting to identify the characteristic differences between these two storm-types.