Severe Storm Clouds as Seen from TIROS

Abstract

Comparisons of TIROS-viewed severe storm clouds are made with radar, sferics, and surface cloud and weather observations. Where available, the radar and sferics observations show an excellent correlation with the storm-producing cloud systems. As expected, the clouds are found to be larger than the radar echoes whereas the reliable sferics fixes closely outlined the cloud area. In the cases investigated, the cloud patterns producing severe weather are conspicuous and distinctive. They are medium scale neph systems characterized by strong brightness and well defined borders and are either isolated from other clouds or separated by a break in the cloudiness at the periphery.