A comparison of the midlevel kinematic characteristics of a pair of supercell thunderstorms observed by airborne Doppler radar

The midlevel kinematic characteristics of two supercell thunderstorms observed during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX), one tornadic and the other nontornadic, are compared using airborne pseudo-dual-Doppler wind retrievals. The most significant difference between the two cases was that a midlevel rear-inflow jet was observed in the nontornadic supercell (12 May 1995), whereas such rear-to-front, storm-relative flow was absent at midlevels in the tornadic supercell (16 May 1995). The midlevel jet in the nontornadic supercell was located on the north flank of a prominent region of anticyclonic vertical vorticity. Some speculations are provided pertaining to the possible importance of the midlevel kinematic differences between the two storms.