In Situ Observations of the 21 April 2007 Tulia, Texas Tornado

Blair, Scott F.; Deroche, Derek R.; Pietrycha, Albert E.

doi:10.55599/ejssm.v3i3.16

Cited by 5 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The need for estimating tornado intensity from damage arises from the scarcity of direct measurements of tornadoes. In situ measurements of tornadoes are exceedingly uncommon, limited to a select number of targeted observations (e.g., Karstens et al 2010;Lee et al 2011;Wurman et al 2013) or through serendipitous encounters between tornadoes and surface meteorological instruments (e.g., Blair et al 2008;Blanchard 2013). However, the difficulty and inherent risks associated with the collection of in situ tornado measurements (e.g., Wurman et al 2014) have led to the use of mobile Doppler radar systems as a preferred method for collecting information about tornado structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Damage Analysis and Close-Range Radar Observations of the 13 April 2019 Greenwood Springs, Mississippi, Tornado during VORTEX-SE Meso18-19

Lyza

Goudeau

Knupp

2022

Monthly Weather Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A tornado outbreak occurred across the Southeast United States on 13–14 April 2019, during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment - Southeast (VORTEX-SE) Meso18-19 experiment. Among the most noteworthy events was a pair of large tornadoes in Monroe County, Mississippi, near the Columbus Air Force Base (GWX) Weather Surveillance Radar - 88 Doppler (WSR-88D). The second tornado, near the Greenwood Springs community, formed within the ‘no data’ region near the radar and passed about 900 m to its east, rapidly strengthening into an intense tornado. This tornado produced forest devastation and electrical infrastructure damage up to at least EF4 intensity. The maximum radial velocity from GWX was 81.5 m s−1 (182 MPH) in a resolution volume centered at 56 m (183 ft.) above radar level. This paper presents a damage survey of the Greenwood Springs tornado and compares this assessment to the GWX data. A displacement of the maximum forest damage from the maximum radial velocity, despite the radar beam sampling <100 m ARL, is documented, as well as other likely effects of debris loading by the tornado on the observed radar signatures. The radar observations are placed into context with past mobile radar studies to illustrate the unique nature of this dataset. The relationship between radar data and damage observations, the implications for tornado structure in rough terrain and land cover, and the use of forest damage and radar data in tornado intensity estimation are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Damage Analysis and Close-Range Radar Observations of the 13 April 2019 Greenwood Springs, Mississippi, Tornado during VORTEX-SE Meso18-19

Lyza

Goudeau

Knupp

2022

Monthly Weather Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Supercell tornadoes are the most damaging local severe weather phenomena capable of producing wind speeds greater than 100 m s −1 and atmospheric pressure deficits greater than 100 hPa (Blair et al, 2008;Karstens et al, 2010). The strongest, most damaging winds of a tornado typically occur within the core flow or radius of maximum winds (RMW) along the outer boundary of the tornado core of low atmospheric pressure (Karstens et al, 2010;Wurman et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct measurements of atmospheric conditions from inside tornadoes have been limited to ground-based instrumentation (Samaras and Lee, 2004;Blair et al, 2008;Karstens et al, 2010;Kosiba and Wurman, 2013;Wurman et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tim Samaras recorded a pressure deficit of 100 hPa inside an F4 tornado in Manchester, South Dakota, on 24 June 2003 using the Hardened In Situ Tornado Pressure Recorder (HITPR) (Samaras and Lee, 2004;Karstens et al, 2010). In Tulia, Texas, on 21 April 2007, a mobile mesonet vehicle was struck by an EF2 tornado and recorded a pressure deficit of 194 hPa along with a maximum wind velocity of 50.4 m s −1 (Blair et al, 2008). Ground-based measurements of wind and pressure deficit inside a tornado are essential because the surface conditions are responsible for structural damage and human impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the past two decades, field experiments such as VORTEX, VORTEX2, and Project TORUS have improved the understanding of supercells, tornadoes, and particularly tornado environments using mobile Doppler radar (X-, W-, Ka-band), in situ ground-based probes, balloons, mobile mesonets, and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) (Straka et al, 1996;Bluestein et al, 2003;Wakimoto et al, 2003;Bluestein et al, 2004;Samaras and Lee, 2004;Blair et al, 2008;Weiss and Schroeder, 2008;Karstens et al, 2010;Wurman, 2010, 2013;Wakimoto et al, 2011;Wurman et al, 2012;Tanamachi et al, 2013;Winn et al, 1999;Samaras, 2004;Pazmany et al, 2013;Frew et al, 2020;Houston et al, 2020;Markowski et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Design and Rocket Deployment of a Trackable Pseudo-Lagrangian Drifter based Meteorological Probe into the Lawrence/Linwood EF4 Tornado and Mesocyclone on 28 May 2019

Timmer¹,

Simpson²,

Schofer³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A custom lightweight, miniaturized and trackable meteorological probe was launched by model rocket into the "inflow notch" of a strengthening EF4, long-tracked wedge tornado south of Lawrence, Kansas, on 28 May 2019. The rocket reached apogee at 439 m AGL, releasing the "near-Lagrangian drifter" by parachute directly into the tornado vortex.The probe reached a velocity of 84 m s-1 in the first revolution around the tornado, followed by an additional revolution and updraft. The probe then entered the parent mesocyclone at an altitude of 4,323 m MSL and underwent a tilted ascent with speeds reaching 83 m s-1 while lofting to 11,914 m MSL.1 Hz pressure, temperature, relative humidity, GPS, acceleration, gyroscope, and magnetometer data for the flight were transmitted in real-time to a ground station until landing 51 km northeast of the launch position. The probe was later recovered without damage due to the Lagrangian Drifter design, and higher resolution 10 Hz data was downloaded.This novel deployment method and design facilitate the collection of empirical data in real-time from within tornadoes, the mesocyclone, and downdraft without requiring the probe to be recovered or for the researchers deploying to enter the circulation.

show abstract

Influences of Larger-Scale Vortex Variability on Tornado Pressure Minima in an Outer-Flow Region: Explorations Using a Parametric Tangential Wind Model

Wood

Tanamachi

White

2017

Monthly Weather Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous studies have neglected to distinguish between a central pressure deficit due to a tornado itself and due to a parent mesocyclone in which the tornado is embedded. To obtain improved understanding of the influences of larger-scale vortex variability on smaller-scale tornado pressure deficits, a parametric tangential wind model supplemented with a cyclostrophic speed equation was used to explore the role that the variability plays in influencing radial pressure deficits by deducing radial pressure deficit distributions from radial profiles of hypothetically superpositioned, dual-maxima tangential velocities in the free atmosphere, where a dominant swirling flow was in approximate cyclostrophic balance. The cyclostrophic approximation was partitioned into two separate components, allowing one to scrutinize and determine which of the concentric vortices contributes most significantly to the tornado pressure minima. The model parametrically constructed a smaller-scale, stronger vortex (rapidly swirling flow) that was centered within a larger-scale, weaker vortex (slowly swirling flow) to represent a tornado centered within a supercell, low-level, parent mesocyclone above a tornado boundary layer. The radial pressure deficit fluctuations were varied by changing one of five key velocity-controlling parameters assigned to one vortex to represent a variety of vortex strengths. Based on eight experiments, the larger-scale, weaker (smaller scale, stronger) vortex contributed less (more) to the total pressure deficit than the smaller-scale, stronger (larger scale, weaker) vortex. The stronger vortex centered within the larger-scale, weaker vortex has a larger central pressure minimum than it does in the absence of the larger-scale vortex.

show abstract

In Situ Observations of the 21 April 2007 Tulia, Texas Tornado

Cited by 5 publications

References 24 publications

Damage Analysis and Close-Range Radar Observations of the 13 April 2019 Greenwood Springs, Mississippi, Tornado during VORTEX-SE Meso18-19

Damage Analysis and Close-Range Radar Observations of the 13 April 2019 Greenwood Springs, Mississippi, Tornado during VORTEX-SE Meso18-19

Design and Rocket Deployment of a Trackable Pseudo-Lagrangian Drifter based Meteorological Probe into the Lawrence/Linwood EF4 Tornado and Mesocyclone on 28 May 2019

Influences of Larger-Scale Vortex Variability on Tornado Pressure Minima in an Outer-Flow Region: Explorations Using a Parametric Tangential Wind Model

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About