Subject:  08/95 Radar images.JPG
Author:  Jerry M. Straka et al., Univ. of Okla.
Uploaded By:  CHansen598
Date:  5/24/1996

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From the August 1995 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Tornadoes

by Robert Davies-Jones

This 640 x 200 pixel image shows how the signature of a tornado may be detected by Doppler radar up to 20 minutes before touchdown. Winds in the clouds changing abruptly across a short distance may signal a potential or actual vortex, as for a tornado (top) in Hanston, Kan., observed by the author on May 16. A mesocyclone, in which tornadoes are usually embedded, appears on conventional radar as a hook-shaped appendage to the southwest side of the thunderstorm. The curl in the radar hook (bottom) for the storm in Hanston reveals the tornado as well.