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- Title
Spatial-Temporal Clustering of Tornadoes.
- Authors
Malamud, Bruce D.; Turcotte, Donald L.
- Abstract
The standard measure of the intensity of a tornado is the Fujita or Enhanced Fujita scale, which is based qualitatively on the damage caused by a tornado. An alternative measure of tornado intensity is the tornado path length, L. Here we examine the spatial-temporal clustering of severe tornadoes, which we define as having path lengths L ≥ 10 km. Of particular concern are tornado outbreaks when a large number of severe tornadoes occur in a day in a restricted region. We apply a spatial-temporal clustering analysis developed for earthquakes. We take all pairs of severe tornadoes in an outbreak, and for each pair plot the spatial lag (distance between touchdown points) against the temporal lag (time between touchdown points). We test our approach applying our analysis to the intense tornado outbreaks in the central United States on 26 and 27 April 2011, which resulted in over 300 fatalities. The patterns of spatial-temporal lag correlations that we obtain for the two days are strikingly different. On 26 April there were 45 severe tornadoes and our clustering analysis is dominated by a complex sequence of linear features. We associate each linear feature with multiple tornadoes generated by one discrete supercell thunderstorm. On 27 April there were 64 severe tornadoes and our clustering analysis is predominantly random with virtually no embedded linear patterns. We associate this pattern with a widespread complex of interacting supercell thunderstorms without long well defined paths of movement.
- Subjects
TORNADOES; FUJITA Scale; WIND speed measurement
- Publication
Natural Hazards & Earth System Sciences Discussions, 2016, p1
- ISSN
2195-9269
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/nhess-2016-71