Characteristics of Isolated Convective Storms

Abstract

Convective storms exist under a wide variety of conditions and evolve in an equally wide variety of ways. As the understanding of convective phenomena has increased, so has appreciation of their complexity. Storm behavior is inherently dependent on the environment in which the storm grows, including thermodynamic stability, vertical wind profiles, and mesoscale forcing influences. To the extent that the important prestorm conditions can be identified (through rawinsonde ascents, surface observations, satellites, vertical profilers, etc.), current knowledge provides valuable guidance on how convection will evolve in a given environment. For example, inferences can be made about storm motion, longevity, and potential severity. Because of the complexity of the problem, however, the knowledge of storm dynamics to date is most applicable to relatively isolated convective events, i.e., individual thunderstorm cells, small groups of cells, or some very simple squall lines. To the extent that larger scale systems such as Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) are made up of individual convective cells, this knowledge of the properties of isolated convection is still very useful. But as interactions among cells, along with mesoscale and synoptic-scale influences, become important, any inferences regarding storm behavior are made with less certainty.