1 / 20

Shear and Buoyancy Parameters for California Tornadoes During the Period of 1951-2011

Shear and Buoyancy Parameters for California Tornadoes During the Period of 1951-2011. Chris Stumpf Masters Proposal Pt. 1. What images do we think of when we hear the word tornado?. Twister images courtesy of Warner Bros. What images do we think of when we hear the word tornado?.

nevin
Download Presentation

Shear and Buoyancy Parameters for California Tornadoes During the Period of 1951-2011

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Shear and Buoyancy Parameters for California Tornadoes During the Period of 1951-2011 Chris Stumpf Masters Proposal Pt. 1

  2. What images do we think of when we hear the word tornado? Twister images courtesy of Warner Bros.

  3. What images do we think of when we hear the word tornado? Wizard of Oz image courtesy of Warner Bros.

  4. What images do we think of when we hear the word tornado? TIV vehicle images courtesy of the Discovery Channel

  5. But this is what we tend to forget about tornadoes. May 4th, 2007 Greensburg, KS tornado image courtesy of The Wichita Eagle

  6. Damage from tornado in Kansas May 4th, 2007 Greensburg, KS tornado image courtesy of The Wichita Eagle

  7. Remains of a large truck wrapped around telephone after an F5 tornado

  8. April 4th, 1974 Xenia, Ohio F5 Photo by Fred Stewart, courtesy of NOAA

  9. Riverside, CA From LA Times, Photo by Michael Ritter

  10. Tornadoes near Sacramento, CA From sacbee.com, Photo by Matthew Adams From sacbee.com, Photo by Stuart Hooper

  11. Tornadoes near Sacramento, CA

  12. Tornado Research • Understanding the processes that create tornadoes • Allows us to make better forecasts • Increase warning times • Hopefully save lives • We still can’t predict when or where tornadoes will form

  13. Tornadoes in California • Although infrequent tornadoes can and do occur in California • 6 Tornadoes occur on average every year • 371 tornadoes occurred from 1951-2010

  14. Tornado formation • Produced from supercell thunderstorms • Strong storm with a single rotating updraft • Also produced by localized influences such as sea breezes

  15. Supercell Thunderstorm

  16. Previous work by Gary Lipari and Monteverdi • Analyzed two parameters for forecasting tornado development • Wind shear profiles • Buoyancy or instability in the atmosphere • Buoyancy is required to form thunderstorms • Two forms of wind shear • Speed shear • Directional shear

  17. Speed and Directional Shear

  18. Expanding on Previous Work

More Related