No significant differences among the estimators for the same rain type derived using DSDs from different observational sites were present despite significant separation and differing terrain. Underestimations in NBB rain-rate retrievals derived using other rain-type estimators (e.g., those for BB or convective rain or default operational radar estimators) for the same values of radar variables can be on average about 40%, although the differential phase-based estimators are somewhat less susceptible to DSD details. Differences among same-type estimators for mostly stratiform BB and deep-convective rain were relatively minor, but estimators derived for the common NBB rain type were distinct. Data from a year of combined DSD and rain-type observations were used to derive S-band-radar estimators of rain rate R, including those based on traditional reflectivity Z e and ones that also use differential reflectivity Z DR and specific differential phase K DP. Collocated with S-PROF, disdrometer measurements showed that drop size distributions (DSDs) of NBB rain have much larger relative fractions of smaller drops when compared with those of BB and convective rains. This common nonbrightband (NBB) rain contributes ~15%–20% of total accumulation and is not considered as a separate rain type by current precipitation-segregation operational radar-based schemes, which separate rain into stratiform, convective, and, sometimes, tropical types.
![doppler radar southeastern united states doppler radar southeastern united states](https://cdns.abclocal.go.com/three/wpvi/weather/southeasttemps_630.jpg)
Hydrometeorology Testbed sites indicated a frequent occurrence of rain that did not exhibit radar bright band (BB) and was observed outside the periods of deep-convective precipitation. killing 10 people.Īfter that devastating storm, city officials sprang into action and built a Monolithic Dome Safe Room in the heart of downtown, which can house 2,200 people and withstand 250 mph winds.S-band profiling (S-PROF) radar measurements from different southeastern U.S. In, April 2014, an EF-4 tornado churned over 30 miles and tore through the small town of Louisville, Miss. In contrast, many houses in Oklahoma have tornado shelters and if you don’t, your neighbor or friend does.Īfter several consecutive years of deadly tornado outbreaks across the Southeast, many places are building community storm shelters. You rarely have basements in the south because of the damp soil.Īlso, several states in the south have a high number of manufactured homes which are not sturdy shelters during severe weather.
![doppler radar southeastern united states doppler radar southeastern united states](https://img.apmcdn.org/dd54de8edb0d9060add881f6c3ea035c6444d637/uncropped/90483d-updraft-files-2016-06-svr6172.gif)
![doppler radar southeastern united states doppler radar southeastern united states](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gZ6bvIX4vRo/maxresdefault.jpg)
The type of housing is completely different in the Mississippi and Tennessee Valley versus the Plains states. In fact, the Super Tuesday Outbreak of 2008 was a surprise to many since it didn’t fall in the normal March–May severe weather season. There is also a less focused tornado season in this region which can experience tornadoes in every month of the year. This increases the frequency of intense nighttime and early morning tornadoes. The instability in the South can be maintained long after the sunset thanks to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. In traditional Tornado Alley, tornadoes most often form in the later afternoon and early evening. You rarely see a clear picture or video of a tornado in this region, not like the postcard tornadoes you see on a Nebraska farm. These supercells are often wrapped in rain which visually impairs the tornado to storm spotters, chasers, law enforcement and the public. Tornadic storms in Tornado Alley are usually so-called LP super cells (low precipitation) but in the South they are typically HP supercells (high precipitation) because of the increase in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
![doppler radar southeastern united states doppler radar southeastern united states](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/61/cb/4661cb6f92ee5d725d320a0e50fc1e77.gif)
So, when there’s a tornado outbreak, unfortunately it has a higher probability of hitting a town or city in that region. Also, the population is higher across the South verses the Plains. For example, you can see a tornado many miles away with the wide open spaces versus the dense forest in parts of the Southeastern United States. The terrain east of the Mississippi River differs vastly from than the Great Plains.