Study of Ardmore, Oklahoma, storm clouds. II. Satellite infrared remote sensing and numerical simulation

Both rawinsonde data and geosynchronous satellite imagery were used to study the life cycles of Ardmore, Oklahoma's severe convective storms. Cloud modelling with input sounding data from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and rapid-scan imagery from GOES were used to investigate storm-cloud formation, development and dissipation in terms of growth and collapse of cloud tops, as well as, the life cycle of the penetration of overshooting turrets above the tropopause. The results based on these two approaches showed: (1) storm clouds developed lo a mature stage with overshooting cloud tops that penetrated above the tropopause; (2) they collapsed at approximately 9min before the touchdown of tornadoes; and (3) at the time of storm dissipation, cloud tops collapsed at a high rate, approximately 6min before the lift-off time of the tornadoes. Cloud modelling also showed that the local tropopause height decreased during the time when overshooting cloud tops penetrated above the tropopause due to the local subsidence around the overshooting top.