IAP 12.310

January 2008
 Significant U.S. Weather Events

Deep South Tornadoes Jan (10, 2008)

A bus chassis was ripped from its wheels and tossed to the roof of one of the buildings on the Caledonia High School campus in Caledonia, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, following a tornado. (Columbus Commercial Dispatch, Kelly Tippett/AP Photo)

The second severe weather outbreak in less than a week struck parts of the deep south with a number of tornado, high wind, and large hail reports. Hardest hit was Mississippi where several injuries occurred.

The storms were fueled by a spring-like air mass ahead of the main front along with a robust upper level jet producing sufficient amounts of wind shear to allow rotating storms to spawn severe tornados. The tornado that went through Caledonia, MS was captured on a nearby Doppler radar. Radar reflectivities, shown in the figure below, indicate a pronounced hook like structure characteristic of tornadic thunderstorms, also known as supercells, with the tornado usually located at the tip of the hook.

Doppler radar can also measure the wind toward and away from the radar site. When there is rotation, one sees a pronounced positive/negative couplet in the velocity fields. Can you spot the tornado below?

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