The Detailed Structure of the LaGrange, Wyoming Tornado Observed during VORTEX2
October 04, 2012
Roger Wakimoto
Hosted by Richard Johnson
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Abstract
One of the most ambitious field projects organized to study tornadoes and tornadic storms occurred during the spring and summer of 2009/2010 (VORTEX2 - Verification of the Origins of Tornadoes Experiment). A number of mobile platforms were deployed in a coordinated manner in order to increase the number of intercepts of tornadic storms. This seminar presents an analysis of a tornado that developed west of LaGrange, Wyoming on 5 June 2009. The tornado was scanned by several radars while the evolution of the funnel was captured by a series of photographs. This data set provides a unique opportunity to understand the relationship between the visual characteristics of the tornado and the signatures identified on radar (e.g., hook echo and rotational couplet) as well as the synthesized wind field surrounding the intense circulation.
