Despite the large number of studies focusing on hurricanes in shear flow, the topic is still poorly understood. It is generally accepted in the research and forecasting communities that strong vertical shear inhibits hurricane intensification. What is not known is how the hurricane's inner core structure changes and what determines whether the storm can resist the vertical shear and resume intensification, or whether the storm will decay.
In this study some of these questions are addressed using an idealized hurricane-like vortex and a three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic model (MM5). The vortex will be placed in progressively more complex flows: ranging from zero flow, uniform westerlies, westerly shear to a combination of westerly and horizontally sheared flows. The vortex response and adaption to its environment is quantified in terms of core tilt, convection and intensity change. The outer structure change of the vortex and its subsequent track are documented. In contrast to earlier 'dry baroclinic'studies of a vortex in shear, the vortex studied here exhibits very little core tilt. Further, after a period of adjustment, the shear in the core region of the storm is observed to reduce substantially as the storm intensifies. Processes leading to this shear reduction will be discussed.