What Is Mesocyclone?
A rotating column of air, a few miles wide, inside a thunderstorm. It is the engine of a supercell and can produce tornadoes. In technical terms: A storm-scale vortex, roughly 2-10 km in diameter, with vertical vorticity on the order of 10^-2 s^-1, found in a supercell's updraft and persisting through a significant depth (typically 3 km or more) for tens of minutes.
Mesocyclone In Plain English
A rotating column of air, a few miles wide, inside a thunderstorm. It is the engine of a supercell and can produce tornadoes.
The Technical Definition
A storm-scale vortex, roughly 2-10 km in diameter, with vertical vorticity on the order of 10^-2 s^-1, found in a supercell's updraft and persisting through a significant depth (typically 3 km or more) for tens of minutes.
Lessons That Use Mesocyclone
- Supercells: The Rotating Thunderstorm Unit 7: Thunderstorms And Lightning
- How Tornadoes Form Unit 8: Tornadoes
- Reading Velocity: Wind Toward And Away Unit 12: Radar Science
