A mesocyclone is a meso-gamma mesoscale (or storm scale) region of rotation (vortex), typically around 2 to 6 mi (3.2 to 9.7 km) in diameter, most often noticed on radar within thunderstorms. In the northern hemisphere it is usually located in the right rear flank (back edge with respect to direction of movement) of a supercell, or often on the eastern, or leading, flank of a high-precipitation variety of supercell. The area overlaid by a mesocyclone’s circulation may be several miles (km) wide, but substantially larger than any tornado that may develop within it, and it is within mesocyclones that intense tornadoes form.[1]
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A mesocyclone is a meso-gamma mesoscale (or storm scale) region of rotation (vortex), typically around 2 to 6 mi (3.2 to 9.7 km) in diameter, most often...
the ground, and drags the supercell's rotating mesocyclone towards the ground with it. As the mesocyclone lowers below the cloud base, it begins to take...
scientist Howard B. Bluestein in 1985 for a tornado not associated with a mesocyclone. The Glossary of Meteorology defines a landspout: "Colloquial expression...
detected rotation algorithm that indicates the likely presence of a strong mesocyclone that is in some stage of tornadogenesis. It may give meteorologists the...
cyclones and subtropical cyclones also lie within the synoptic scale. Mesocyclones, tornadoes, and dust devils lie within the smaller mesoscale. Upper level...
A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes...
landfall. Mesovortices can spawn rotation in individual thunderstorms (a mesocyclone), which leads to tornadic activity. At landfall, friction is generated...
updraft within a storm. Rotating wall clouds are an indication of a mesocyclone in a thunderstorm; most strong tornadoes form from these. Many wall clouds...
in the lower portions of a storm as air and precipitation flow into a mesocyclone, resulting in a curved feature of reflectivity. The echo is produced...
formation. The cycle begins when a strong thunderstorm develops a rotating mesocyclone a few miles up in the atmosphere. As rainfall in the storm increases...
updraft known as a mesocyclone, and then a smaller area of rotation at lower altitude the tornadocyclone (or low-level mesocyclone) which produces or...
cyclones. Mesocyclones form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead to tornado formation. Waterspouts can also form from mesocyclones, but more...
cage – (tornado chaser slang) The precipitation that wraps around a mesocyclone, possibly hiding a tornado on the ground. Beaufort scale Bernoulli's...
surface winds and heat-induced lifting, rather than from a tornadic mesocyclone aloft. The phenomenon was first verified in the 2003 Canberra bushfires...
vertical wind shear. A supercell has a rotating updraft (mesocyclone) and a downdraft. The mesocyclone is created when horizontal vortices created by the wind...
downdraft (RFD) is a region of dry air wrapping around the back of a mesocyclone in a supercell thunderstorm. These areas of descending air are thought...
supercell. Another mechanism for DRC formation is associated with updraft-mesocyclone cycling. In this process, a new hook echo and subsequent DRC can form...
revolves around a larger, primary tornado and interacts with the same mesocyclone. Satellite tornadoes occur apart from the primary tornado and are not...
powerful updraft is often an indication of, or is facilitated by, a mesocyclone. A mesocyclone is not strictly necessary for BWER development. Storm rotation...
Most tornadoes are associated with a larger parent circulation, the mesocyclone on the back of a supercell thunderstorm. Dust devils form as a swirling...
imagery. Hail began to fall from the storm by around 6:17 p.m. CST. The mesocyclone associated with these radar features continued to produce a swath of...
is known as a "tornado handoff", in which an old mesocyclone and tornado occlude as a new mesocyclone and tornado further downwind becomes dominant. Over...
tornado family) only when spawned by a new tornadocyclone or low-level mesocyclone (and from within a new wall cloud).[citation needed] Tornado outbreak...
Management discussion and analysis Mesocyclone detection algorithm, an automated software discriminator of a mesocyclone within a thunderstorm detected by...