Interpretation of Doppler weather radar displays of midlatitude mesoscale convective systems

Abstract

Displays from a single Doppler radar collected in two squall-line storms reveal mesoscale-flow patterns in the stratiform rain region of the squall line, such as front-to-rear storm-relative flow at upper levels, a subsiding storm-relative rear inflow at middle and low levels, and low-level divergent flow associated with strong mesoscale subsidence. "Dual-Doppler' analysis further illustrates these mesoscale-flow features and, in addition, shows the structure of the convective region within the squall line and a mesoscale vortex in the "stratiform' region trailing the line. A refined conceptual model of this type of mesoscale convective system is presented based on previous studies and observations reported here. -from Authors