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Urbanization may enhance tornado potential: A single case report

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Earth Science
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Tornadoes pose a risk of catastrophic economic loss and casualty in the United States. Modification of land use by urbanization alters the meteorological conditions that may impact tornado formation and intensification processes. Here we explored the simulated impact of Kansas City urbanization on the tornado potential of a supercell storm. In this studied case, we found that urbanization might enhance tornado potential by a) strengthening the low-level streamwise vorticity in the storm inflow region, thus forming stronger rotating updrafts; and b) intensifying near-surface horizontal vorticity near the boundary of the forward-flank cold pool which increases the ingestion, tilting, and stretching of streamwise horizontal vorticity into vertical vorticity. The former results from the stronger east-to-west pressure perturbation gradient due to the faster, stronger outflow boundary, and the latter is mainly a result of stronger cold fronts and a better alignment of storm-relative inflow with the horizontal vorticity vector. We emphasize that our conclusions only represent one possibility of how urbanization would affect tornado potential, and a more systematic examination is needed to achieve a more general conclusion.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Ministry of Education (MoE); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1985906
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-183988
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Earth Science, Journal Name: Frontiers in Earth Science Vol. 11; ISSN 2296-6463
Publisher:
Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
WRF simulation
supercell
tornado potential
tornadogenesis
urbanization