Abstract
Abstract Examples of cool-season tornadic thunderstorms in California and southern Australia are examined. Almost one-half of the reported Australian tornadoes and the majority of those in California occur in the cool season. It is shown that in both areas the typical synoptic pattern shows an active midlatitude trough just upstream, with a strong jet streak aloft. In both areas the tornadic thunderstorms occur with weak to moderate levels of thermodynamic instability in the lower troposphere but with extremely high values of low-level positive and bulk shear. Statistical tests on null cases (nontornadic thunderstorms) in the Central Valley of California indicate that large values of 0–1-km shear provide a discriminator for more damaging (F1–F3) tornadoes, whereas bulk measures of buoyancy, such as CAPE, do not. Australian case studies and tornado proximity soundings show similar characteristics. A “cool-season tornadic thunderstorm potential” diagnostic for Australian conditions, based on regional NWP an...
Published Version
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