Nocturnal tornado outbreak climatology

• Main Author: Elmore, Alexander M.
• Other Authors: Andrew E. Mercer
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: MSSTATE 2016
• Subjects: Geosciences
• Online Access: http://sun.library.msstate.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-04212016-104240/

<p>Research investigating tornado outbreaks has primarily focused on events that have occurred during daylight hours. While nocturnal outbreaks tend to be less significant in terms of spatial extent and severity than daytime outbreaks, they still pose a serious threat to the general public, owing to the increased difficulty of conveying risk information during nighttime hours. Additionally, the meteorological conditions driving these events are less well established, increasing forecast difficulty. The goal of this research is to establish a climatology of purely nocturnal tornado outbreaks. Events that met the criteria set in this study for nocturnal outbreaks were analyzed spatially and temporally. A diagnostic mesoscale analysis was also performed on the environments present at the onset of the outbreaks. These analyses yielded new information regarding nocturnal tornado outbreaks, as well as results similar to findings of other research focused on nocturnal tornadoes.</p>