Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,586
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    23Yankee
    Newest Member
    23Yankee
    Joined

1979 Windsor Locks Tornado


CT Rain

Recommended Posts

I don't think so --

 

I read a paper once about the great Tri-State tornado of March 18, 1925, that surmised that the meso-cyclone taped into the vorticity of a mid-latitude cyclone, syncing, and becoming a closed system.  This looks quite similar, with that negatively tilted s/w positioned ideally.  A meso appeared to develop in the perfect location with respect q-vector forcing, and though this is not tri-state-type result, it might just have benefited from the same kinematics. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The thing is, you definitely need CAPE to get the good stretching and acceleration for violent updrafts with strong tornadoes. There had to be a local area of rather strong instability near the front.

 

You could probably get away with "just enough" CAPE... with super strong low level shear and low LCLs that will do it. There have been a number of sig tors in low CAPE/high shear environments. 

 

Weird setup but pretty incredible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing is, you definitely need CAPE to get the good stretching and acceleration for violent updrafts with strong tornadoes. There had to be a local area of rather strong instability near the front.

 

Yeah, I mean you have to keep in mind the grid scale that NARR is working on. A local ob or two near the warm front would absolutely get washed out by those north and south of the boundary.

 

NARR4pCAPE_1995053000.png

 

NARR4pSRH_1995053000.png

 

We know the channeling of winds contributed to higher helicity in the case of the Great Barrington tornado, but here that signal is washed out by the surrounding obs.

 

One difference I do see in the reanalysis is that Great Barrington had 0-1 km shear in excess of 20-25 knots (indicating strong to violent tornadoes were possible). That signal wasn't so apparent in the Windsor Locks case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I mean you have to keep in mind the grid scale that NARR is working on. A local ob or two near the warm front would absolutely get washed out by those north and south of the boundary.

 

NARR4pCAPE_1995053000.png

 

 

 

We know the channeling of winds contributed to higher helicity in the case of the Great Barrington tornado, but here that signal is washed out by the surrounding obs.

 

One difference I do see in the reanalysis is that Great Barrington had 0-1 km shear in excess of 20-25 knots (indicating strong to violent tornadoes were possible). That signal wasn't so apparent in the Windsor Locks case.

 

Yeah - I'm guessing 0-1km shear was likely at least 20-25 knots IVOF warm front in the BDL case but was quite localized. Winds were E at 10 knots prior to the tornado and winds at 850mb were out of the south per the NARR - so that's some impressive turning along the front. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did a quick and dirty sounding analysis using available raobs (most representative of airmass possible) and used the BDL sfc obs of T/Td/wind near the time of the tornado to modify best I could. I ended with about 600 J/Kg SBCAPE, 0-1 km SRH of 190, and 0-3 km SRH of 225. Could be substantial error there given paucity of real time profiles and mesoscale effects, but it's probably in the ballpark given the storm motion. Note that BDL sfc winds were like 110 to 120 degrees ahead of the tor... resulting in the high 0-1 km SRH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did a quick and dirty sounding analysis using available raobs (most representative of airmass possible) and used the BDL sfc obs of T/Td/wind near the time of the tornado to modify best I could. I ended with about 600 J/Kg SBCAPE, 0-1 km SRH of 190, and 0-3 km SRH of 225. Could be substantial error there given paucity of real time profiles and mesoscale effects, but it's probably in the ballpark given the storm motion. Note that BDL sfc winds were like 110 to 120 degrees ahead of the tor... resulting in the high 0-1 km SRH.

:weenie:

That sounds about right though... I pulled up the JFK sounding from that morning and it looks "ok". Still a really bizarre setup for an F4 in New England though.

Lance's MWR article on it from 87 is interesting too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing too is looking at the NARR 4-panal maps, height falls looked quite impressive as well as the day goes on that is pretty significant as well.  Having such pressure decreases can be a key factor in tornadogenesis as well...rapidly sinking air along with an airmass with great turning of the winds can certainly locally boost helicity values as well and by quite a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing too is looking at the NARR 4-panal maps, height falls looked quite impressive as well as the day goes on that is pretty significant as well.  Having such pressure decreases can be a key factor in tornadogenesis as well...rapidly sinking air along with an airmass with great turning of the winds can certainly locally boost helicity values as well and by quite a bit.

Rapidly sinking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 1878 Wallingford CT tornado was pretty wild. 

 

On the ground from Kent (on the NY border) all the way to the mouth of the CT River. 

 

You should do some kind of write up on that one someday. Your comment above is the first time I've heard of it being that long a track.  My tornado project book lists 10 miles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should do some kind of write up on that one someday. Your comment above is the first time I've heard of it being that long a track. My tornado project book lists 10 miles.

I really want to write a book on ct weather to be honest. As for 1878 I'm thinking it was one supercell with a few touchdowns but it may have been continuous. Hard to say for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really want to write a book on ct weather to be honest. As for 1878 I'm thinking it was one supercell with a few touchdowns but it may have been continuous. Hard to say for sure.

 

 

Likewise with any major historical tornado (Tri-State, et al). It's just so hard to know if it was continuous because settlements were more sparse, and observations/accounts are limited to towns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...