The Impacts of Hydrometeor Centrifuging on Tornado Dynamics

Ronald Stenz, Ohio Supercomputer Center

Usage Details

Current numerical simulations of tornadoes lack centrifuging of precipitation, producing an unrealistic maximum of precipitation in simulated tornado cores that creates an unrealistic source of negative buoyancy in the tornado updraft, limiting the stretching of vertical vorticity. A centrifuging algorithm developed for the non-hydrostatic thunderstorm simulation model, CM1, and trajectory analysis will be used for a statistically significant sample of cases to determine the importance of the inclusion of centrifuging on tornado vorticity budgets. This study will improve the realism of tornado simulations and provide further insights into the dynamical processes occurring within tornadoes. For the first time, impacts that centrifuging of precipitation has on the vorticity budget for numerically simulated, supercell-spawned tornadoes will be quantified.