Boundary Layer Thermodynamics of a High Plains Severe Storm

Abstract

A new analysis method based on air parcel saturation point is used to intercompare data sampled by different systems (aircraft, rawinsondes, and a surface mesonet) during the passage of one severe storm in the 1981 Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment. The low-level thermodynamic structure simplifies into two distinct branches on a thermodynamic diagram. The lower tropospheric environment ahead of the severe storm has a characteristic mixing line structure while the storm low-level outflow has a distinct evaporation line structure.