Analysis of three supercell storms with Doppler weather radar data

Abstract

Three supercell storms on 24 June 2004 (0624), 28 June 2003 (0628), and 27 September 2002 (0927) induced different damages in Shandong Province. Storm 0927 was inferior in size and intensity to storms 0628 and 0624. The structure and evolvement of the three storms were analyzed in detail based on the WSR-98D radar data in combination with weather charts. The results show that mesoscale surface convergence triggered release of instable energy, which resulted in severe convection. During the development stage, storms 0927, 0628, and 0624 displayed multi-cell propagation, single-cell evolution, and multi-cell mergence, respectively. The storm tracks were similar: they were all right-moving supercell storms, i.e., moving at an angle of 30°–70° to the right of the mean wind and at a speed of about 45%-70% of the mean wind speed. In the mature stage, the maximum reflectivity appeared at the low level in storm 0927, mid level in storm 0628, and mid-upper level in storm 0624. These storms possessed almost all typical features of supercell storms: weak echo region (WER), bounded weak echo region (BWER), and mesocyclone. An organized mesocyclone formed at the middle height of an updraft, deepened gradually downward and upward, and became a typical mid-level mesocyclone with strong updrafts. The vertical structures of airflows in the three storms were similar, i.e., significant convergence at low level, nearly pure rotation at mid level, and divergent rotation at upper level. However, signatures of mid-level horizontal airflows in the three storms were different: at mid level, there was a single vortex in storm 0628, but a double-vortex flow pattern was seen in storms 0927 and 0624. The horizontal structure of the double-vortex flow was hard to be blown away by the environmental airflow, and thus the storms could persist for a longer period of time than the single vortex storm.