Severe Convective Storms And Tornadoes

This book is a focused, comprehensive reference on recent research on severe convective storms and tornadoes. It will contain many illustrations of severe storm phenomena from mobile Doppler radars, operational Doppler radars, photographs and numerical simulations.

This highly illustrated book is a collection of 13 review papers focusing on convective storms and the weather they produce. It discusses severe convective storms, mesoscale processes, tornadoes and tornadic storms, severe local storms, flash flood forecast and the electrification of severe storms.

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes affect communities across the U.S. every year, causing fatalities, destroying property and crops, and disrupting businesses. Tornadoes are the most destructive products of severe thunderstorms. Damages from violent tornadoes seem to be increasing, similar to the trend for other natural hazards in part due to changing population, demographics, and more weather-sensitive infrastructure and some analysts indicate that losses of $1 billion or more from single tornado events are becoming more frequent. Insurance industry analysts state that tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and related weather events have caused nearly 57%, on average, of all insured catastrophe losses in the U.S. in any given year since 1953. Contents of this report: (1) Overview; (2) Issues for Congress: A Focus on Local Warnings and Forecasts for the National Weather Service; Mitigation: The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program; Reauthorizing the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program; Climate Change and Severe Weather: The April and May 2011 Tornados: A Link to Climate Change?; Other Factors Contributing to Risk From Tornadoes; Forecasting and Warning: The Role of the National Weather Service; Summary and Conclusions; Appendix: Risk from Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes. Map and tables. This is a print on demand report.

This book is a collection of selected lectures presented at the ‘Intensive Course on Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting’ in Boulder, USA, in 1984. It includes mesoscale classifications, observing techniques and systems, internally generated circulations, mesoscale convective systems, externally forced circulations, modeling and short-range forecasting techniques. This is a highly illustrated book and comprehensive work, including extensive bibliographic references. It is aimed at graduates in meteorology and for professionals working in the field.

For scientists, amateur weather enthusiasts, or anyone intrigued or terrified by a darkening sky, this book provides not only a history of tornado research, but a vivid look into the origin of the storms. 67 color illustrations.

The author profiles real tornadoes and severe weather patterns over six thousand miles of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, known as Tornado Alley.

This new textbook seeks to promote a deep yet accessible understanding of mesoscale-convective processes in the atmosphere. Mesoscale-convective processes are commonly manifested in the form of thunderstorms, which are fast evolving, inherently hazardous, and can assume a broad range of sizes and severity. Modern explanations of the convective-storm dynamics, and of the related development of tornadoes, damaging 'straight-line' winds and heavy rainfall, are provided. Students and weather professionals will benefit especially from unique chapters devoted to observations and measurements of mesoscale phenomena, mesoscale prediction and predictability, and dynamical feedbacks between mesoscale-convective processes and larger-scale motions.

For almost a decade, economists Kevin M. Simmons and Daniel Sutter have been studying the economic effects and social consequences of the approximately 1,200 tornadoes that touch down across the United States annually. During this time, they have compiled information from sources such as NOAA and the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the casualties caused by tornadoes and to evaluate the National Weather Service (NWS)’s efforts to reduce these casualties. Their unique database has enabled this fascinating and game-changing study for meteorologists, social scientists, emergency managers, and everyone studying severe weather, policy, disaster management, or applied economics.