Cyclic Tornado Formation in the 8 June 1995 McLean, Texas Storm

The ELDORA scans of the McLean, Texas storm on 8 June 1995 during VORTEX offer the most detailed look to date of a storm producing a family of tornadoes. The storm produced at least five tornadoes; the formation of the three largest ones is captured in the radar dataset. The fourth tornado in the series lasted over one hour, much longer than the other four.

Hypotheses to be explored at the symposium include:

1. The first tornado in the series formed as a new updraft grew along the storm flanking line and subsequently became the primary updraft. 2. A small-scale gust front surge near an existing tornado initiated the process of formation of the next tornado. 3. Cell interactions and increasing surface outflow strength yielded conditions favorable for the long-lived tornado.