Environmental and Radar Characteristics of Gargantuan Hail-Producing Storms

Open Access
- Author:
- Gutierrez, Rachel
- Graduate Program:
- Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- November 01, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Matthew Robert Kumjian, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Paul Markowski, Committee Member
Anthony Carl Didlake, Jr., Committee Member
David Jonathan Stensrud, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- hail
radar
gargantuan
severe thunderstorms
environments
gargantuan hail
rotational velocities - Abstract:
- Storms that produce gargantuan hail (>= 6 inches or 15 centimeters in maximum dimension), although seemingly rare, can cause extensive damage to property and infrastructure and cause injury to humans and animals. Additionally, gargantuan hail-producing storms can be responsible for billions of dollars worth of insured losses. Currently, we are limited in our ability to accurately predict gargantuan hail and detect gargantuan hail on radar. We analyze the environments and radar characteristics of gargantuan hail-producing storms to define the parameter space of environments in which gargantuan hail occurs, and compare environmental parameters and radar signatures in these storms to other sizes of hail. We find that traditionally used environmental parameters used for hail prediction, such as most unstable convective available potential energy (MUCAPE), may not be able to distinguish between gargantuan hail environments and environments that produce smaller hail. Moreover, radar reflectivity does not appear to be able to distinguish among hail sizes. However, inferred rotational velocities within the hail growth region of the mesocyclone of storms that produce gargantuan hail are significantly stronger than the rotational velocities found for smaller hail.