Outflow Assisted Thunderstorms Doppler Radar Example

Posted by Jonny William Malloy, PhD, CCM

Outflow Assisted Thunderstorms Doppler Radar Example

This is a great example of an outflow wind boundary providing enough lift for new thunderstorms! The outflow boundary progressed northwards (moving blue line on 3D radar animation), but the overlying convective environment was not favorable for sustained and deep thunderstorms after the initial air mass lift assist was given. The parade of single cell thunderstorm, indicated by growing and then rapidly collapsing green areas on the 3D radar animation, were triggered by a northwards moving cool/dense outflow boundary resulting from earlier thunderstorm downdraft activity along the Mogollon Rim of Arizona (7/14/2023).

Notice how the storms had short lifespans and failed to get generate tall storms. The convective environment happened to be unfavorable due to midlevel atmospheric subsidence (warm/dry sinking air) and weak upper-level wind in general.
Pretty cool how 3D Doppler radar can show storm evolution!

GR2Analysts used for radar visualization.

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Jonny William Malloy, PhD, CCM

Welcome to The Weather Journal! How do tornadoes form? Why does the wind blow? What is a monsoon? Why does it rain? There are a lot of questions about the weather! It’s exciting to learn something new to stoke the curiosity! To help with that I have created The Weather Journal. The purpose is to provide informative and interesting content about the weather around us, while shedding light on weather concepts that are more complex and intertwined to society than they may first appear. A goal of these ongoing discussions is to highlight the essentials behind a wide array of weather science topics relevant to our everyday lives and the environment. I have also made a "one stop shop" on the website's sidebar that includes many online resources I use to forecast the weather and stay current on weather events around the world. Enjoy and share with anyone you may know who loves learning about the world around them!