Mesoscale Organization of Springtime Rainstorms in Oklahoma

Radar reflectivity and raingage data obtained during six springtimes indicate the types of mesoscale organization that occur in association with major rain events in Oklahoma (at least 25 mm of rain in 24 h over an area exceeding 12 500 km2). In these storms the primary rain area is found to be a contiguous region of precipitation 10s to 100s of km in scale that consists partly of deep convection and partly of stratiform rain. The patterns of rain formed by the convective and stratiform areas comprise a continuous spectrum of mesoscale structures. About two-thirds of the cases examined exhibited variations on the type of organization in which convective cells arranged in a moving line are followed by a region of stratiform rain. Storm organization was graded according to the degree to which it matched an idealized model of this “leading-line/trailing-stratiform” structure. The precipitation pattern was further graded according to whether its structure was relatively symmetric with respect to an axis normal to and passing through the midpoint of the line, or asymmetric, in which case the storm was biased toward having stronger, more discrete convective structure at the upwind (south or southwestern) end of the line and/or the most extensive stratiform precipitation behind the downwind (north to northeastern) end of the line. About one-third of the cases examined displayed much more chaotic, unclassifiable arrangements of convective and stratiform areas. Among the cases with leading-line/trailing-stratiform structure, severe weather was most frequent in systems with (i) a strong degree of leading-line/trailing-stratiform structure, in which a solid, relatively uniform, are-shaped line had stratiform rain centered symmetrically behind it, and (ii) a weaker degree of leading-line/trailing-stratiform structure in which a southwest-northeast line was biased toward having narrow, intensely convective, irregularly spaced cell structure at its southwestern (upwind) end and stratiform rain confined to the region behind the broader northeastern (downwind) portion of the line. Although all mesoscale organization types were characterized by all types of severe weather, the type (ii) cases were the most prolific category in terms of tornado and hail production, while type (i) cases were prone to be associated with flooding. The chaotic, unclassifiable cases, which exhibited no line organization, had just as much severe weather as the cases with line organization, but were more likely to produce hail and somewhat less likely to produce tornadoes and flooding than the systems with line structure. Major rain events occurred whenever a mesoscale convective complex (MCC) was passing over the study area, unless the MCC was dissipating or merely skirting the area. However, 75% of the major rain events occurred under cloud shields that failed to meet the MCC criteria explicitly, although they often resembled MCCs qualitatively. No particular type of mesoscale radar-echo organization was favored when cloud shields meeting the MCC criteria were observed. A slight preference for the more chaotic type of organization was suggested; however, the data sample is not large enough for this finding to be regarded as conclusive. Mean soundings and hodographs generally show no sign of a low-level jet in environments associated with chaotically arranged rain areas that lacked any line structure. On the other hand, a low-level jet and resulting curved hodograph were typically associated with cases in which line organization was evident. The wind shear in the low-to-mid troposphere, the bulk Richardson number and other familiar parameters characterizing squall fine environments are consistent with results from recent modeling studies. When leading-line/trailing-stratiform structure was present, the cross-line shear in the environment was of a magnitude associated with model simulations in which a rearward sloping updraft circulation favorable to trailing-stratiform anvil formation quickly develops. The along-line component of shear was greater when the squall system structure was of the asymmetric type and the degree of leading-line/trailing-stratiform structure was not as strong, i.e. in those mesoscale systems favoring tornado occurrence.