Start
April 5, 2024 - 3:00 pm
End
April 5, 2024 - 3:30 pm
Categories
Convective Meteorology (Mesoscale Dynamics)Convective Meteorology (Mesoscale Dynamics)
Determining the Utility of Multi-platform Observations Collected Preceding the 26 February 2023 Norman, OK Tornado
Madeline Diedrichsen
Friday, April 5
3:00 p.m.
NWC 1350
Abstract: Quasi-linear Convective System (QLCS) tornadoes are difficult to predict and target, so relatively few coordinated deployments sampling these events have been conducted in the past. On 26 February 2023, a QLCS event provided a unique opportunity to observe the pre-tornadic convective environment of a strong tornado in Oklahoma with multiple remote sensing and in situ instruments. The thermodynamic environment was sampled by a combination of hourly radiosonde launches and a targeted near-inflow Windsond deployment. Windsonds are a relatively new low cost sounding instrument that have been utilized in collecting data during field campaigns in the last decade. The raw Windsond and radiosonde data during the 26 February 2023 event showed a rapid lifting of a temperature inversion and a slight increase in low-level wind shear just before tornadogenesis. These instruments were collocated with a Doppler Wind LiDAR which sampled the 0-3 km kinematic environment leading up to tornad ogenesis. In addition to the aforementioned instruments, three radars were also sampling throughout the event including KTLX, PX-1000, and the NSSL Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD). The s-band KTLX and x-band PX-1000 will be used to form a multi-scale analysis of this event due to the rapid scanning, close-range observations of PX-1000 and the storm-scale general overview provided by KTLX. Taking advantage of a data rich case, these datasets will be analyzed through assimilation into a research-tuned version of the NSSL Warn-on-Forecast System to understand the very rapid observed evolution of the low-level inflow environment and the mechanisms that produced the strong tornado over Norman.