Left and Right movers?

[BKDPhillips]

Hello,

I am not studying to be a meteorologist and don't have all the technical info but enjoy learning via this forum about something that has interested me for a long time. So if this is a silly question forgive me... but what do you mean by a left mover or right mover? Do you mean the entire storm on the radar/as I look at it out my window or the rotation of the clouds within the storm (which is what I thought you meant when saying it is anticyclonic or cyclonic)? Which is rare or common? Why?

Thanks for helping an interested and very new student of understanding weather from a "more technical" view. As you can see from my question, I have a lot to learn!!

I finally went out just to observe last week and saw some wall clouds in the Kansas City area and for me that was unbelievable!

Belinda

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Belinda - welcome to the forum. Left and right moving storms move against the mean flow, primarily due to vorticity (in other words, they tear themselves away from their typical direction and the flow of wind that normally pushes the storm in a given direction). We can estimate the direction of storms before they occur (I use the Bunkers charts in the models on Earl Barker's page). However, as storms become stronger and the buoyancy and vorticity are strong enough, it can cause them to split away from the mean flow and diverge either right or left of it. This can increase the shear encountered by the storm and can enhance its ability to become tornadic.

 

[BKDPhillips]

Thank you...but what is the Bunkers charts? I can't find them or don't realize I have found them.

Belinda

 

[D. Hayes]

Earls' site:

http://www.wxcaster.com/

Data intense stuff there. Study study study.

 

[Bobby Prentice]

...what do you mean by a left mover or right mover?

Please see:

METR 4433, Mesoscale Meteorology Course Home Page (Spring 2007)

Skip to section 4.6: Supercell Storms and Dynamics

In particular, read:

"Dynamics of Tornadic Thunderstorms" by Joseph Klemp (1987)

It's pretty technical, but I think the graphics might help you understand the storm split process better.

 

[BKDPhillips]

Thanks again for the info....

Belinda