Figure on left taken from Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting (pub. Peter S. Ray (1986)) and originally published by Byers and Braham (1949)
|
||
| During the mature stage of the ordinary cell, a updraft and downdraft
coexist within the storm. While a large majority of ordinary cells
are not severe, any severe weather is most likely to occur just as the
downdraft is developing. Any large hail (generaly 1 inch diameter
or less) and strong wind gusts are most likely to occur at this
point. In either case, the duration of the hail and wind gusts
will be short - less than 5 minutes in the storm's life cycle. As
the downdraft continues, a cold pool will form at the surface (denoted
by the blue on the left figure). This cold pool will begin to
spread out in a circle away from the storm forming an outflow boundary.
During the mature stage of a ordinary cell, the radar reflectivity will transition from having high reflectivity only at mid-levels to high reflectivity at both mid- and low-levels of the storm. In addition, the location of the highest reflectivity will generally be over the same location. This is indicative that the downdraft has formed in the same location as the updraft. |
