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Microphysical and Transportive Contributions to Normal and Anomalous Polarity Subregions in the 29–30 May 2012 Kingfisher Storm
Author(s) -
Chmielewski Vanna C.,
MacGorman Donald R.,
Ziegler Conrad L.,
DiGangi Elizabeth,
Betten Daniel,
Biggerstaff Michael
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1029/2020jd032384
Subject(s) - graupel , storm , supercell , dipole , lightning (connector) , geology , thunderstorm , meteorology , tornado , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , physics , precipitation , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
Abstract A developing supercell storm on 29–30 May 2012 in north‐central Oklahoma was observed with the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (OKLMA) and three mobile radars. The storm's vertical charge structure inferred from the OKLMA was anomalous overall but varied considerably even within 10 km of the bounded weak echo region (BWER) and the bounded weak lightning region (BWLR) or lightning hole. Near the BWER, three distinct charge structures were observed—an inverted dipole, an inverted tripole, and a bottom‐heavy normal tripole. One column within each structure was analyzed relative to the Doppler‐derived wind field and environmental properties derived by a diabatic Lagrangian analysis (DLA). Within each column, back trajectories of graupel and hail particles additionally illustrate the history of the diagnosed in‐cloud microphysical properties, which are expected to influence noninductive electrification and may have contributed to the observed charge profiles. This study objectively demonstrates the complicated scenarios presented by the three‐dimensional motions around and through the updraft and provides likely constraints on how each of the three distinct vertical charge distributions could have been produced within this focused region of the storm.