Q1. What features of Satellites and Doppler Radar make them effective tools for

Question

Q1. What features of Satellites and Doppler Radar make them effective tools for severe weather forecasting?

Q2. Compare the evolution and subsequent impact of Hurricane Katrina (2005) to Hurricane Patricia (2015). Why, in your view, did hurricane Katrina cause much greater damage and human suffering?

Q3. What geographic and meteorological features make the Central United States the most favorable location for Tornado formation in North America?

Q4. Describe the characteristics of the successive stages of air mass thunderstorm formation and dissipation.

Q5. Describe the formation of a supercell tornado in detail

Q6. Explain what an air mass is and describe the major air masses that affect the United States of America in the summer and in the winter seasons.

Q7. The recent strong hurricanes that have made landfall in the US has generated concern about potential “global warming” effects. Explain what you know about how hurricanes develop and the conditions necessary for hurricane formation. Do you suspect any global warming connection?

Q8. You have been invited to talk to a group of High School Freshmen about winter weather in Kansas City with special emphasis on why it is so difficult to accurately predict day-to-day changes in Kansas City winter weather patterns. What will you tell them?

Q9. What are Squall Lines? Describe their main features

Q10. Describe the major categories of lightning and explain the sequence by which electrical imbalances lead to lightning strokes.

Q11. What is a mesoscale convective complex? Describe their impact on weather in the US.

Q12. Explain how microbursts form, and why they present a serious threat to aviation.

Explanation / Answer

1)Computer programs, called algorithms, analyze Doppler radar data and display it in ways that make it easier for forecasters to identify dangerous weather. A storm with a tornado observed by radar has certain distinguishing features and forecasters are trained to recognize them.

When a Doppler radar detects a large rotating updraft that occurs inside a supercell, it is called a mesocyclone. The mesocyclone is usually 2-6 miles in diameter, and is much larger than the tornado that may develop within it.

A “hook echo” describes a pattern in radar reflectivity images that looks like a hook extending from the radar echo, usually in the right-rear part of the storm (relative to the motion of the storm).

2)

Hurricane Patricia was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere in terms of barometric pressure, and the strongest globally in terms of reliably measured maximum sustained winds. Originating from a sprawling disturbance near the Gulf of Tehuantepec in mid-October 2015, Patricia was first classified a tropical depression on October 20. Initial development was slow, with only modest strengthening within the first day of its classification. The system later became a tropical storm and was named Patricia, the twenty-fourth named storm of the annual hurricane season. Exceptional environmental conditions fueled explosive intensification on October 22. A well-defined eye developed within an intense central dense overcast and Patricia grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours—a near-record pace. Early on October 23, Hurricane Hunters revealed the storm to have acquired record maximum sustained winds of 200 mph (325 km/h); a subsequent recon mission found a record low pressure of 879 mbar.

3) closed low pressure circulation

4)

Thunderstorms form when moist, unstable air is lifted vertically into the atmosphere. Lifting of this air results in condensation and the release of latent heat. The process to initiate vertical lifting can be caused by:

(1). Unequal warming of the surface of the Earth.

(2). Orographic lifting due to topographic obstruction of air flow.

(3). Dynamic lifting because of the presence of a frontal zone.

5)

? Although supercells require some degree of buoyancy, moderate to strong speed and directional wind shear between the surface and about 20,000 feet is the most critical factor. Wind shear not only creates the mesocyclone, but it also allows the storm to be tilted, which is important for maintaining a separate updraft and downdraft region. A separate updraft and downdraft allows the supercell to be long-lived because it reduces the likelihood that too much rain-cooled, stable air from the downdraft region will be ingested into the updraft, causing the storm to weaken.

Supercells are most common in the central part of the United States, but they can occur in other regions of the country and other parts of the world. There are also a variety of supercell types, including classic, high precipitation, low precipitation, and even miniature. Classic supercells (Figure 2) are tough to precisely define. Nonetheless, these supercells typically exhibit a textbook appearance on radar and in the field for spotters. Radar features may include the presence of a hook echo, a weak echo region (WER), a bounded weak echo region (BWER), and a V-notch. Low-level storm features are visually identified by a well-defined wall cloud, a rain free base, a rear flank downdraft, and distinctly separate updraft and downdraft regions. Classic supercells are most com-monly found in the Great Plains of the United States and can be relatively isolated. High precipitation (HP) supercells (Figure 3) are less isolated than their classic counterparts and often form in environments with a high degree of atmospheric moisture and weak mid-level storm-relative winds. As a result, the updraft tends to become rain-wrapped, which makes it difficult to identify low-level storm features, including wall clouds and tornadoes. Low precipitation (LP) supercells (Figure 4) form in environments with low atmospheric moisture content and strong mid-level storm-relative winds. LP supercells usually don’t produce much precipitation, but what precipitation they do produce is usually in the form of very large hail. Since these supercells form in an environment with low atmospheric moisture, they are not uncommon in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. Miniature supercells are smaller versions of classic supercells, they typically form in the cool season, and they are characterized by weak to moderate buoyancy that is confined to a relatively small vertical depth below 20,000 feet above ground level.

6)cP continental polar cold, dry, stable

cT continental tropical hot, dry, stable air aloft--unstable surface air

9)A squall line is a line of thunderstorms that can form along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front. It contains heavy precipitation, hail, frequent lightning, strong straight-line winds, and possibly tornadoes andwaterspouts. Strong straight-line winds can occur where the squall line is in the shape of a bow echo. Tornadoes can occur along waves within a line echo wave pattern (LEWP), where mesoscale low pressure areas are present. Some bow echoes which develop within thesummer season are known as derechos, and they move quite fast through large sections of territory. On the back edge of the rain shieldassociated with mature squall lines, a wake low can be present, sometimes associated with a heat burst.

? Although supercells require some degree of buoyancy, moderate to strong speed and directional wind shear between the surface and about 20,000 feet is the most critical factor. Wind shear not only creates the mesocyclone, but it also allows the storm to be tilted, which is important for maintaining a separate updraft and downdraft region. A separate updraft and downdraft allows the supercell to be long-lived because it reduces the likelihood that too much rain-cooled, stable air from the downdraft region will be ingested into the updraft, causing the storm to weaken.

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