Tuesday, May 6 2003
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Atmospheric Fury in the Southeast
Like a deadly armada advancing on the South, this TRMM image shows a dramatic line of towering,
severe thunderstorms on May 6. The storms were part of a three-day, widespread outbreak of severe
weather across the southern Plains and southeast during May 4-May 6. The Tropical Rainfall
Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite uses the Precipitation Radar, designed and built by the Japanese
space agency JAXA, to measure precipitating ice and rainfall inside clouds. It is the only weather radar
used in space. This particular overpass occurred at 5:16 pm EDT as the line of menacing storms was
producing numerous episodes
of damaging hail, strong winds and tornadoes. The colors indicate the relative height of the rain cells (30
dBZ echo surface) embedded within the squall line, with reds indicating cell tops in the range of 13-16
km.
TRMM Maps a Severe Southern Squall Line
These two images dramatically portray the rain structure of a severe-weather producing squall line that
developed across the southeast on May 6, 2003. The TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), built by the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA, overflew the line at 5:16 pm EDT. Colors indicate the rainfall echo
intensity in dBZ - the strongest cells (heaviest rains) are shown on the red end of the scale. The left
image shows a top-down view of heavy convective and lighter stratiform rain embedded within the cloud
mass. The right image shows a cross section taken perpendicular to the squall line, from west to east.
Textbook squall line precipitation structure is evident, with a tall, leading line of heavy convective towers,
a well-defined transition region of light rain, and the broad, shallow region of trailing stratiform rain. A
radar "bright band" of melting snow can be seen as a horizontal green layer at 5 km height within the 20
dBZ contour of the stratiform rain region.
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