Abstract:
Thunderstorms producing wind, hail, and tornado damage are compared with thunderstorms that produce no damage in the Pittsburgh, PA, WSR-88D radar coverage area by investigating various parameters in the output of the National Severe Storms Laboratory Mesocyclone and Tornado Detection Algorithms. Results show there is some correlation between these parameters and tornado-causing storms. There is also evidence that any differences between parameter values of the two different sets of thunderstorms are either too small to be detected by the algorithms or the differences are so small that it is very difficult to distinguish between the two sets. Results also indicate it is more likely a tornado will be reported given that it occurred and caused damage than wind or hail reported given damage was observed.
Paper available upon request.