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Close-up view of 20 March 1976 tornadoes - Sinking cloud tops to suction vorticesThe article describes an airborne mission using a Learjet to secure direct data on a family of tornadoes spawned by a rotating thunderstorm in the Missouri-Illinois-Indiana area in March 1976 following an unusually warm February. Weakening of the tornado following increased cloud-scale vertical motion, predicted by a model constructed by Fujita (1972), was confirmed. The aircraft inspected overshooting cloud tops, examined subsidence (holes and depressions) in anvil tops it overflew, and surveyed footprints left by the tornadoes and tornado-blown litter on the ground traversed by the disturbances. Subsidence of cloud tops in advance of violent tornadoes below was confirmed. Isolated and multiple suction vortices left their characteristic ground marks; three scales of motion: tornado cyclone, tornado, and suction vortex, are evidenced by the ground truth.
Document ID
19770033819
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Fujita, T. T.
(Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL, United States)
Forbes, G. S.
(Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL, United States)
Umenhofer, T. A.
(Chicago, University Chicago, Ill., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 1976
Publication Information
Publication: Weatherwise
Volume: 29
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
77A16671
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: AT(49-24)-0239
CONTRACT_GRANT: NOAA-04-4-158-1
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGR-14-001-008
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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