Baseline Climatology of Sounding-Measured Variates Associated with Atlantic and Gulf Coast Tropical Cyclone Tornado Clusters

Abstract

ABSTRACTRadiosonde sounding-measured variates are analyzed for fifty-four cases of tornado outbreaks associated with tropical cyclones from 1995 to 2010. This study provides a climatology of these variates for each tornado outbreak. Measured variates include height of standard pressure surfaces, temperatures, dew points, and winds. Descriptive statistics document the central tendency and variability of these variates. Results of a cluster analysis and principal components analysis are presented to aid in understanding commonalities in groups of variates and tropical cyclone tornado outbreaks.