Abstract A 36-h nested-grid numerical simulation of the life cycle of a convectively generated, inertially stable, warm-core mesovortex is presented. The vortex evolved from a mesoscale convective complex that developed from a squall line over Oklahoma during 7–8 July 1982. A modified version of the Pennsylvania State University /National Center for Atmospheric Research mesoscale hydrostatic model with a fine-mesh grid resolution of 25 km is utilized for this study. The model simultaneously incorporates parameterized convection and a grid-resolved convective scheme containing the effects of hydrostatic water loading, condensation (evaporation), freezing (melting) and sublimation. Genesis, intensification and maintenance of a low- to midtropospheric closed meso-β scale cyclone as well as the associated surface pressure perturbations, the evolution of moist convection, and the distribution and magnitude of total rainfall are simulated by the model. Similarly, the observed amplification of a 700-mb meso-α sc...