Mobile sounding observations of a thunderstorm near the dryline: the Gruver, Texas storm complex of 25 May 1987

Abstract

During the afternoon of 25 May 1987, thunderstorms, some of which were tornadic and produced large hail, formed near a dryline in the Texas Panhandle. This note discusses a sounding released into the updraft of a developing cumulonimbus south of Gruver, Texas by a University of Oklahoma storm-intercept team. The sounding indicated a nearby pseudo-moist-adiabatic lapse rate, a temperature excess of 4°-6°C over the environment at 500 mb, and updraft speeds of 35-40 m s-1 between 6 and 7 km AGL, in good agreement with parcel theory. A radar-observed fine line appeared along the dryline and retreated westward. -Authors