Forecasting thunderstorms and hailstorms by means of temperature and dew-point anomalies on a time-section chart

Summary Vertical time-section charts for temperature and dew-point anomalies have been plotted. The temperature anomaly decreasing upwards give convection according to Byers and Braham [1]2). The coincidence of temperature anomalies with central minimum and of dew-point anomalies with central maximum, or of upward decreasing trend in temperature anomalies and upward increasing trend in dewpoint anomalies, correspond to the convection associated with greater moisture influx, thus representing the case of a thunderstorm…

Forecasting thunderstorms and hailstorms by means of temperature and dew-point anomalies on a time-section chart

Journal Pure and Applied Geophysics
Publisher Birkhäuser Basel
ISSN 0033-4553 (Print) 1420-9136 (Online)
Issue Volume 89, Number 1 / December, 1971
DOI 10.1007/BF00875214
Pages 178-182
Subject Collection Earth and Environmental Science
SpringerLink Date Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Lalit Kumar and H. S. Rathor1

(1)  Department of Geophysics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-5, U.P., India

Received: 26 October 1970  

Summary  Vertical time-section charts for temperature and dew-point anomalies have been plotted. The temperature anomaly decreasing upwards give convection according to Byers and Braham [1]2). The coincidence of temperature anomalies with central minimum and of dew-point anomalies with central maximum, or of upward decreasing trend in temperature anomalies and upward increasing trend in dewpoint anomalies, correspond to the convection associated with greater moisture influx, thus representing the case of a thunderstorm. The mentioned anomalies have been found to occur in such a way that cells with central maximum are followed by those with central minimum, and vice versa. Thus simultaneous occurrences of upward decreasing anomalies in temperature, i.e. occurrence of cells with central minimum of temperature, and upward increasing anomalies in dew-point, i.e. occurrence of cells with central maximum, can be observed at any station, hence the occurrences of thunderstorms at that station can be predicted. Moreover, the two kinds of anomalies can give the idea (along with that of convection, of coming of the synoptic situation having dry air aloft and moist air below, which is the ideal condition) for the occurrence of a hailstorm (Fawbush andMiller [2]).

http://www.springerlink.com/content/v22786n741151654/

Types of thunderstorms – the supercell

 

  Supercell
 
Supercells are the most powerful of all storms and have updrafts that rotate
 
Supercells produce the most intense tornadoes, largest hailstones, extremely heavy rainfall and strongest straight line winds

 Strong enough rotation throughout a supercell upraft can lead to tornadoes.

Types of thunderstorms – the squall line

 

Squall line
 
One or more storm cells will develop into a LINE complex
 
Strong straight line winds, heavy rain, hail and weak tornadoes can occur
 
Features include spectacular shelf clouds