The Influence of Midlevel Shear and Horizontal Rotors on Supercell Updraft Dynamics

Abstract

Abstract Large midlevel (3–6 km AGL) shear is commonly observed in supercell environments. However, any possible influence of midlevel shear on an updraft has been relatively unexplored until now. To investigate, we ran 10 simulations of supercells in a range of environments with varying midlevel shear magnitudes. In most cases, larger midlevel shear results in a storm motion that is faster relative to the low-level hodograph, meaning that larger midlevel shear leads to stronger low-level storm-relative flow. Because they are physically connected, we present an analysis of the effects of both midlevel shear and low-level storm-relative flow on supercell updraft dynamics. Larger midlevel shear does not lead to an increase in cohesive updraft rotation. The tilting of midlevel environmental vorticity does lead to localized areas of larger vertical vorticity on the southern edge of the updraft, but any dynamical influence of this is overshadowed by that of much larger horizontal vorticity in the same area associated with rotor-like circulations. This storm-generated horizontal vorticity is the primary driver behind lower nonlinear dynamic pressure on the southern flank of the midlevel updraft when midlevel shear and low-level storm-relative flow are larger, which leads to a larger nonlinear dynamic pressure acceleration in those cases. Storm-generated horizontal vorticity is responsible for the lowest nonlinear dynamic pressure anywhere in the midlevel updraft, unless the mesocyclone becomes particularly intense. These results clarify the influence of midlevel shear on a supercell thunderstorm, and provide additional insight on the role of low-level storm-relative flow on updraft dynamics. Significance Statement Persistent rotation in supercell thunderstorms results from the tilting of horizontal spin into the vertical direction. This initially horizontal spin is the result of shear, which is a change in wind speed and/or direction with height. More shear in the layer 0–3 km above ground level is well understood to lead to stronger rotation within the storm, but the influence of shear in the 3–6-km layer is unclear and is investigated here. We find that horizontal spin originating in the 3–6-km layer has little impact on vertically oriented thunderstorm rotation. Instead, intense regions of horizontal spin that are generated by the storm itself (rather than having originated from the background environment) dominate storm dynamics at midlevels.