Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm

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Once inside the swirling cloud, Keller said that everything was "as still as death." He reported smelling a strong gassy smell and had trouble breathing. When he looked up, he saw the circular opening directly overhead, and estimated it to be roughly 50 to 100 feet in diameter and about a half a mile high. The rotating cloud walls were made clearly visible by constant bursts of lightning that "zigzagged from side to side." He also noticed a lot of smaller tornadoes forming and breaking free, making a loud hissing noise. The tornado then passed, skipping over his house and smashing the home of his neighbor. Enhanced F Scale for Tornado Damage". Storm Prediction Center. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2007-02-01 . Retrieved 2009-06-21. In particular, the role of downdrafts, particularly the rear-flank downdraft, and the role of baroclinic boundaries, are intense areas of study. [135] Peterson, Franklynn; Kwsselman, Judi R (July 1978). "Tornado factory – giant simulator probes killer twisters". Popular Science. 213 (1): 76–78.

While normally quite symmetric, eyes can be oblong and irregular, especially in weakening storms. A large ragged eye is a non-circular eye which appears fragmented, and is an indicator of a weak or weakening tropical cyclone. An open eye is an eye which can be circular, but the eyewall does not completely encircle the eye, also indicating a weakening, moisture-deprived cyclone or a weak but strengthening one. Both of these observations are used to estimate the intensity of tropical cyclones via Dvorak analysis. [5] Eyewalls are typically circular; however, distinctly polygonal shapes ranging from triangles to hexagons occasionally occur. [6] Hurricane Wilma with a pinhole eye Schubert, Wayne H.; etal. (1999). "Polygonal Eyewalls, Asymmetric Eye Contraction, and Potential Vorticity Mixing in Hurricanes". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 59 (9): 1197–1223. Bibcode: 1999JAtS...56.1197S. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.454.871. doi: 10.1175/1520-0469(1999)056<1197:PEAECA>2.0.CO;2. S2CID 16156527.a b Dotzek, Nikolai (2003-03-20). "An updated estimate of tornado occurrence in Europe". Atmos. Res. 67–68: 153–161. Bibcode: 2003AtmRe..67..153D. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.669.2418. doi: 10.1016/S0169-8095(03)00049-8.

Tornadoes in the dissipating stage can resemble narrow tubes or ropes, and often curl or twist into complex shapes. These tornadoes are said to be "roping out", or becoming a "rope tornado". When they rope out, the length of their funnel increases, which forces the winds within the funnel to weaken due to conservation of angular momentum. [28] Multiple-vortex tornadoes can appear as a family of swirls circling a common center, or they may be completely obscured by condensation, dust, and debris, appearing to be a single funnel. [29] In Canada, a similar network of volunteer weather watchers, called Canwarn, helps spot severe weather, with more than 1,000 volunteers. [109] In Europe, several nations are organizing spotter networks under the auspices of Skywarn Europe [110] and the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) has maintained a network of spotters in the United Kingdom since 1974. [111]Wang, David W.; Mitchell, Douglas A.; Teague, William J.; Jarosz, Ewa; Hulbert, Mark S. (2005). "Extreme Waves Under Hurricane Ivan". Science. 309 (5736): 896. doi: 10.1126/science.1112509. PMID 16081728. Samaras, Timothy M. (October 2004). "A Historical Perspective of In-Situ Observations within Tornado Cores". Preprints of the 22nd Conf. Severe Local Storms. Hyannis, MA: American Meteorological Society.

You can see why I barely read anything this month but as I’d like to continue with my end of month reading updates here is what I did read in September:Research programs, including field projects such as the VORTEX projects (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment), deployment of TOTO (the TOtable Tornado Observatory), Doppler on Wheels (DOW), and dozens of other programs, hope to solve many questions that still plague meteorologists. [47] Universities, government agencies such as the National Severe Storms Laboratory, private-sector meteorologists, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research are some of the organizations very active in research; with various sources of funding, both private and public, a chief entity being the National Science Foundation. [112] [139] The pace of research is partly constrained by the number of observations that can be taken; gaps in information about the wind, pressure, and moisture content throughout the local atmosphere; and the computing power available for simulation. [140] Radar Signatures for Severe Convective Weather: Low-Level Mesocyclone, Print Version". www.faculty.luther.edu . Retrieved 2022-06-03. The stadium effect is a phenomenon observed in strong tropical cyclones. It is a fairly common event, where the clouds of the eyewall curve outward from the surface with height. This gives the eye an appearance resembling a sports stadium from the air. An eye is always larger at the top of the storm, and smallest at the bottom of the storm because the rising air in the eyewall follows isolines of equal angular momentum, which also slope outward with height. [23] [24] [25] Eye-like features [ edit ] Lewellen, David C.; Zimmerman, M. I. (2008-10-28). Using Simulated Tornado Surface Marks to Decipher Near-Ground Winds (PDF). 24th Conf. Severe Local Storms. American Meteorological Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09 . Retrieved 2009-12-09.

Edwards, Roger (2008-07-18). "Rope Tornado". National Weather Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Retrieved 2007-02-28. Eyewall mesovortices are a significant factor in the formation of tornadoes after tropical cyclone landfall. Mesovortices can spawn rotation in individual convective cells or updrafts (a mesocyclone), which leads to tornadic activity. At landfall, friction is generated between the circulation of the tropical cyclone and land. This can allow the mesovortices to descend to the surface, causing tornadoes. [21] These tornadic circulations in the boundary layer may be prevalent in the inner eyewalls of intense tropical cyclones but with short duration and small size they are not frequently observed. [22] Stadium effect [ edit ] View of Typhoon Maysak's eye from the International Space Station displaying a pronounced stadium effect Most tornadoes take on the appearance of a narrow funnel, a few hundred meters (yards) across, with a small cloud of debris near the ground. Tornadoes may be obscured completely by rain or dust. These tornadoes are especially dangerous, as even experienced meteorologists might not see them. [26] a b c Landsea, Chris; Goldenberg, Stan (2012-06-01). "D: Tropical cyclone winds and energy". In Dorst, Neal (ed.). Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). 4.5. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. pp. D8: What are "concentric eyewall cycles"?. Archived from the original on 2006-06-15. Edwards, Roger; Ladue, James G.; Ferree, John T.; Scharfenberg, Kevin; Maier, Chris; Coulbourne, William L. (2013). "Tornado Intensity Estimation: Past, Present, and Future". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 94 (5): 641–653. Bibcode: 2013BAMS...94..641E. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00006.1. S2CID 7842905.Though the eye is by far the calmest part of the storm (at least on land), with no wind at the center and typically clear skies, on the ocean it is possibly the most hazardous area. In the eyewall, wind-driven waves all travel in the same direction. In the center of the eye, however, the waves converge from all directions, creating erratic crests that can build on each other to become rogue waves. The maximum height of hurricane waves is unknown, but measurements during Hurricane Ivan when it was a Category 4 hurricane estimated that waves near the eyewall exceeded 40 m (130 ft) from peak to trough. [30] Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. Also under study are the low-level mesocyclone and the stretching of low-level vorticity which tightens into a tornado, [87] in particular, what are the processes and what is the relationship of the environment and the convective storm. Intense tornadoes have been observed forming simultaneously with a mesocyclone aloft (rather than succeeding mesocyclogenesis) and some intense tornadoes have occurred without a mid-level mesocyclone. [134]