A long-lived mesoscale convective complex. Part II: evolution and structure of the mature complex.

Abstract

A eight-day episode in August 1977 is described, wherein 14 mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs) developed in the central US, including one to the immediate lee of the Rocky Mountains on each day of the episode. In Part I of this article, the daytime genesis of one of these systems was traced from its pre-convective roots in the mountains of central Colorado to its incipient MCC stage on the plains of eastern Colorado. In this paper, its continued nocturnal development into a large MCC over Kansas is followed. Satellite imagery shows that this system remained coherent for at least three days as it passed off the east coast and across the western Atlantic Ocean.-from Authors