Simulating and visualizing the most devastating thunderstorms [SC14]

Talk given at Supercomputing 2014 in New Orleans on November 19, 2014.

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© 2014 Leigh Orf and Central Michigan University.
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[OMspot]

12:50... Now watch the 3-31-23 Keota, Iowa monster. You can hear those RFD surges a few times. I also noticed that each RFD surge definitely had a direct correlation with that tornado's wind speed and mmotion becoming more violent. I also noticed the tornado stretching, and lagging behind the tornado just off the ground and into high up the supercell and mesocyclone. That RFD surge visibally got vacuumed right back into the updraft with incredibly violent motion. So much of the air right outside the tornado's vicinity seemed to just go right back up. But noticing behind the tornado just at the cloud base, the inflow was cracking as well, up into the mescyclone. The whole southern end of the storm, the hook, meso, seemed to wrap up tighter, possibly to keep up with the parent supercell. All that intense rising motion adding to the overall mesocyclone rotation as the tornado on the ground lagges behind the rest of the storm, and then the RFD surges happen and the tornado got more intense; or, the RFD surges happen because of a cause of the parent mesocyclone inflow; or, it could be a direct correlation with storm motion, which to me would make more sense. Interesting stuff.

[yergaderga]

Misocyclone? How do you spell that? The small ones, not the mesocyclone.

[DertiDerty]

Very interesting stuff ! Is it possible that the reason why, for a storm like this, sometimes a strong tornado occurs, sometimes not, is just a matter of stochastic processes ?
With all the details and noises that we see here, it wouldn't be surprising.

[OVRxNxOUT]

Leigh Orf & his simulations are hands down the best descripted & visualized explanations as to how a tornado works & forms…and Im still no closer to understanding these amazing forces of nature.

[luiscanamarvega]

I cant believe how the laws of physics can be “turned into” code.. for it to run on a program, and display results very similar to what happens in real life. I just.. this is just immense.