A Diabatic Lagrangian Technique for the Analysis of Convective Storms. Part II: Application to a Radar-Observed Storm

Abstract

new diabatic Lagrangian analysis (DLA) technique that derives predicted fields of potential temperature, water vapor and cloud water mixing ratios, and virtual buoyancy from three-dimensional, time-dependent wind and reflectivity fields (see Part I) is applied to the radar-observed 9 June 2009 supercell storm during the Second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2). The DLA diagnoses fields of rain and graupel content from radar reflectivity and predicts the evolution of analysis variables following radar-inferred air trajectories in the evolving storm with application of the diagnosed precipitation fields to calculate Lagrangian-frame microphysical processes. Simple damping and surface flux terms and initialization of trajectories from heterogeneous, parametric mesoscale analysis fields are also included in the predictive Lagrangian calculations. The DLA output compares favorably with observations of surface in situ temperature and water vapor mixing ratio and accumulated rainfall from a catchment rain gauge in the 9 June 2009 storm.