The Evolution of Hail Production in Simulated Supercell Storms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Kumjian ◽  
Kelly Lombardo ◽  
Scott Loeffler
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Shedding ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Convective Storm ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Storm Evolution ◽  
Supercell Storms ◽  
Storm Dynamics ◽  
Socioeconomic Risk

AbstractHailstorms pose a significant socioeconomic risk, necessitating detailed assessments of how the hail threat changes throughout their lifetimes. Hail production involves the favorable juxtaposition of ingredients, but how storm evolution affects these ingredients is unknown, limiting understanding of how hail production evolves. Unfortunately, neither surface hail reports nor radar-based swath estimates have adequate resolution or details needed to assess evolving hail production. Instead, we use a novel approach of coupling a detailed hail trajectory model to idealized convective storm simulations to better understand storm evolution’s influence on hail production. Hail production varies substantially throughout storms’ mature phases: maximum sizes vary by a factor of two, and the concentration of severe hail more than fivefold during 45-60-min periods. This variability arises from changes in updraft properties, which come from (i) changes in low-level convergence, and (ii) internal storm dynamics, including anticyclonic vortex shedding/storm splitting, and the response of the updraft’s airflow and supercooled liquid water content to these events. Hodograph shape strongly affects such behaviors. Straighter hodographs lead to more prolific hail production through wider updrafts and weaker mesocyclones, and a periodicity in hail size metrics associated with anticyclonic vortex shedding and/or storm splitting. In contrast, a curved hodograph (favorable for tornadoes) led to a storm with a stronger but more compact updraft, which occasionally produced giant (10-cm) hail, but that was a less-prolific severe hail producer overall. Unless storms are adequately sampled throughout their lifecycles, snapshots from ground reports will insufficiently resolve the true nature of hail production.

scholarly journals Lightning in the Anvils of Supercell Thunderstorms

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (7) ◽  
pp. 2064-2079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Weiss ◽  
Donald R. MacGorman ◽  
Kristin M. Calhoun
Keyword(s):  
Warm Season ◽  
Opposite Polarity ◽  
Layer Charge ◽  
Supercell Storm ◽  
Lightning Detection ◽  
Supercell Storms ◽  
Mapping Array ◽  
Storm Dynamics ◽  
Supercell Thunderstorms

Abstract This study uses data from the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OK-LMA), the National Lightning Detection Network, and the Norman, Oklahoma (KOUN), prototype Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) radar to examine the evolution and structure of lightning in the anvils of supercell storms as they relate to storm dynamics and microphysics. Several supercell storms within the domain of the OK-LMA were examined to determine whether they had lightning in the anvil region, and if so, the time and location of the initiation of the anvil flashes were determined. Every warm-season supercell storm had some flashes that were initiated in or near the stronger reflectivities of the parent storm and propagated 40–70 km downstream to penetrate well into the anvil. Some supercell storms also had flashes that were initiated within the anvil itself, 40–100 km beyond the closest 30-dBZ contour of the storm. These flashes were typically initiated in one of three locations: 1) coincident with a local reflectivity maximum, 2) between the uppermost storm charge and a screening-layer charge of opposite polarity near the cloud boundary, or 3) in a region in which the anvils from two adjoining storms intersected. In some storms, anvil flashes struck ground beneath a reflectivity maximum in which reflectivity ≥20 dBZ had extended below the 0°C isotherm, possibly leading to the formation of embedded convection. This relationship may be useful for identifying regions in which there is a heightened risk for cloud-to-ground strikes beneath anvil clouds. In one storm, however, anvil lightning struck ground even though this reflectivity signature was absent.

scholarly journals Wind tunnel experiments on the retention of trace gases during riming: nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen peroxide

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 17447-17472
Author(s):  
N. von Blohn ◽  
K. Diehl ◽  
S. K. Mitra ◽  
S. Borrmann
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Peroxide ◽  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Hydrochloric Acid ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Ice Particles ◽  
Trace Species ◽  
Ice Phase

Abstract. Laboratory experiments were carried out in a vertical wind tunnel to study the retention of different atmospheric trace gases during riming. In the experiments, the rimed ice particles floated in a laminar air stream carrying a cloud of supercooled droplets with radii between 10 and 20 μm. Ice particles, dendritic ice crystals, and snow flakes with diameters between 6 mm and 1.5 cm were allowed to rime at temperatures between −5 and −12 °C where riming mainly proceeds in the atmosphere and with cloud liquid water contents between 1 and 1.5 g m−3 which are values typically found in atmospheric mixed phase clouds. Three trace species were investigated, nitric and hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen peroxide. They were present in the supercooled liquid droplets in concentrations from 1 to 120 ppmv, i.e. similar to the ones measured in cloud drops. The chemical analyses of the rimed ice particles allow to determine the trace species concentration in the ice phase. Together with the known liquid phase concentration the retention coefficients were calculated in terms of the amount of the species which remained in the ice phase after freezing. It was found that the highly soluble trace gases nitric and hydrochloric acid were retained nearly completely (98.6 ± 8 % and 99.7 ± 9 %, respectively) while for hydrogen peroxide a retention coefficient of 64.3 ± 11 % was determined. No influence of the riming temperature on the retention was found which can be explained by the fact that in the observed range of temperature and liquid water content riming proceeded in the dry growth regime.

scholarly journals The ability of the ICE-T microphysics scheme in HARMONIE-AROME to predict aircraft icing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Carlsen ◽  
Morten Køltzow ◽  
Trude Storelvmo
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Numerical Weather Prediction ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Aircraft Icing ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Numerical Weather

Abstract In-cloud icing is a major hazard for aviation traffic and forecasting of these events is an important task for weather agencies worldwide. A common tool utilised by aviation forecasters is an icing intensity index based on supercooled liquid water from numerical weather prediction models. We seek to validate the modified microphysics scheme, ICE-T, in the HARMONIE-AROME numerical weather prediction model with respect to aircraft icing. Icing intensities and supercooled liquid water derived from two 3-month winter season simulations with the original microphysics code, CTRL, and ICE-T are compared with pilot reports of icing and satellite retrieved values of liquid and ice water content from CloudSat-CALIPSO and liquid water path from AMSR-2. The results show increased supercooled liquid water and higher icing indices in ICE-T. Several different thresholds and sizes of neighbourhood areas for icing forecasts were tested out, and ICE-T captures more of the reported icing events for all thresholds and nearly all neighbourhood areas. With a higher frequency of forecasted icing, a higher false-alarm ratio cannot be ruled out, but is not possible to quantify due to the lack of no-icing observations. The increased liquid water content in ICE-T shows a better match with the retrieved satellite observations, yet the values are still greatly underestimated at lower levels. Future studies should investigate this issue further, as liquid water content also has implications for downstream processes such as the cloud radiative effect, latent heat release, and precipitation.

scholarly journals In-situ Observation of Riming in Mixed-Phase Clouds using the PHIPS probe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Waitz ◽  
Martin Schnaiter ◽  
Thomas Leisner ◽  
Emma Järvinen
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
In Situ Observation ◽  
Cloud Particle ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

Abstract. Mixed-phase clouds consist of both supercooled liquid water droplets and solid ice crystals. Despite having a significant impact on Earth‘s climate, mixed-phase clouds are poorly understood and not well represented in climate prediction models. One piece of the puzzle is understanding and parameterizing riming of mixed-phase cloud ice crystals, which is one of the main growth mechanisms of ice crystals via the accretion of small, supercooled droplets. Especially the extent of riming on ice crystals smaller than 500 μm is often overlooked in studies – mainly because observations are scarce. Here, we investigated riming in mixed-phase clouds during three airborne campaigns in the Arctic, the Southern Ocean and US east coast. Riming was observed from stereo-microscopic cloud particle images recorded with the Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering (PHIPS) probe. We show that riming is most prevalent at temperatures around −7 °C, where, on average, 43 % of the investigated particles in a size range from 100 ≤ D ≤ 700 μm showed evidence of riming. We discuss the occurrence and properties of rimed ice particles and show correlation of the occurrence and the amount of riming with ambient meteorological parameters. We show that riming fraction increases with ice particle size (< 20 % for D ≤ 200 μm, 35–40 % for D ≥ 400 μm) and liquid water content (25 % for LWC ≤ 0.05 g m−3, up to 60 % for LWC = 0.5 g m−3). We investigate the ageing of rimed particles and the difference between "normal" and "epitaxial" riming based on a case study.

scholarly journals Response of the Nevzorov hot wire probe in Arctic clouds dominated by very large droplet sizes

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1293-1320
Author(s):  
A. Schwarzenboeck ◽  
G. Mioche ◽  
A. Armetta ◽  
A. Herber ◽  
J.-F. Gayet
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Collection Efficiency ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Asymmetry Factor ◽  
Pure Liquid ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Data Set

Abstract. During the airborne research mission ASTAR 2004 (Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosols, Clouds and Radiation) performed over the island of Svalbard in the Arctic a constant-temperature hot-wire Nevzorov Probe designed for aircraft measurements, has been used onboard the aircraft POLAR 2. The Nevzorov probe measured liquid water (LWC) and total condensed water content (TWC) in supercooled liquid and partly mixed phase clouds, respectively. As for other hotwire probes the calculation of LWC and/or TWC (and thus the ice water content IWC) has to take into account the collection efficiencies of the two separate sensors for LWC and TWC which both react differently with respect to cloud phase and what is even more difficult to quantify with respect to the size of ice and liquid cloud particles. The study demonstrates that during pure liquid cloud sequences the ASTAR data set of the Nevzorov probe allowed to improve the quantification of the collection efficiency, particularly of the LWC probe part with respect to water. The improved quantification of liquid water content should lead to improved retrievals of IWC content. Simultaneous retrievals of LWC and IWC are correlated with the asymmetry factor derived from the Polar Nephelometer instrument.

Influences of CAPE on Hail Production in Simulated Supercell Storms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhu Lin ◽  
Matthew R. Kumjian
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Residence Time ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Wind Field ◽  
Cloud Model ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Horizontal Displacement ◽  
Liquid Water Content ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Supercell Storms

Abstract Lasting updrafts are necessary to produce severe hail; conventional wisdom suggests that extremely large hailstones require updrafts of commensurate strength. Because updraft strength is largely controlled by convective available potential energy (CAPE), one would expect environments with larger CAPE to be conducive to storms producing larger hail. By systematically varying CAPE in a horizontally homogeneous initial environment, we simulate hail production in high-shear, high-instability supercell storms using Cloud Model 1 and a detailed 3D hail growth trajectory model. Our results suggest that CAPE modulates the updraft’s strength, width, and horizontal wind field, as well as the liquid water content along hailstones’ trajectories, all of which have a significant impact on final hail sizes. In particular, hail sizes are maximized for intermediate CAPE values in the range we examined. Results show a non-monotonic relationship between the hailstones’ residence time and CAPE due to changes to the updraft wind field. The ratio of updraft area to southerly wind speed within the updraft serves as a proxy for residence time. Storms in environments with large CAPE may produce smaller hail because the in-updraft horizontal wind speeds become too great, and hailstones are prematurely ejected out of the optimal growth region. Liquid water content (LWC) along favorable hailstone pathways also exhibits peak values for intermediate CAPE values, owing to the horizontal displacement across the mid-level updraft of moist inflow air from differing source levels. In other words, larger CAPE does not equal larger hail, and storm-structural nuances must be examined.

scholarly journals Diurnal Preconditioning of Subtropical Coastal Convective Storm Environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (9) ◽  
pp. 3839-3859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Soderholm ◽  
Hamish A. McGowan ◽  
Harald Richter ◽  
Kevin Walsh ◽  
Tony Wedd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Sea Breeze ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
Convective Storm ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Supercell Storms

Boundary layer evolution in response to diurnal forcing is manifested at the mesobeta and smaller scales of the atmosphere. Because this variability resides on subsynoptic scales, the potential influence upon convective storm environments is often not captured in coarse observational and modeling datasets, particularly for complex physical settings such as coastal regions. A detailed observational analysis of diurnally forced preconditioning for convective storm environments of South East Queensland, Australia (SEQ), during the Coastal Convective Interactions Experiment (2013–15) is presented. The observations used include surface-based measurements, aerological soundings, and dual-polarization Doppler radar. The sea-breeze circulation was found to be the dominant influence; however, profile modification by the coastward advection of the continental boundary layer was found to be an essential mechanism for favorable preconditioning of deep convection. This includes 1) enhanced moisture in the city of Brisbane, potentiality due to an urban heat island–enhanced land–sea thermal contrast, 2) significant afternoon warming and moistening above the sea breeze resulting from the advection of the inland convective boundary layer coastward under prevailing westerly flow coupled with the sea-breeze return flow, and 3) substantial variations in near-surface moisture likely associated with topography and land use. For the 27 November 2014 Brisbane hailstorm, which caused damages exceeding $1.5 billion Australian dollars (AUD), the three introduced diurnal preconditioning processes are shown to favor a mesoscale convective environment supportive of large hailstone growth. The hybrid high-precipitation supercell storm mode noted for this event and previous similar events in SEQ is hypothesized to be more sensitive to variations in near-surface and boundary layer instability in contrast to contemporary supercell storms.

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