Updraft Speed 88D Data.

[Caleb Routt]

Is there any good way to estimate supercell updraft speeds using 88D data? The archives I have do NOT have dual-pol products. Can you use divergence as a proxy for updraft strength potential? Perhaps dervive an equation using the strength of velocities in the mid-level mesocyclone?

 

[John Wetter]

This would likely take a multi-doppler analysis to pull off.

 

[Alex Elmore]

There was a presentation at the Central Iowa NWA 2018 Severe Storms & Doppler Radar Conference about this. They have an archive of past presentations, but unfortunately presentations from 2018 have yet to be posted. However, you can read the abstract for the presentation here:

www.iowa-nwa.com/conference/files/2018_NWA_Agenda.pdf

The presentation abstract is approximately half-way through the document, and is titled "Multiple-Doppler Analysis of Severe Storms on 10 May 2016 Utilizing Open Source Software".

 

[Jeff Duda]

In theory you can use trigonometry to estimate updraft velocities provided you make a litany of (likely violated) assumptions about updraft structure, but likely you would need to perform a statistical study correlating storm-top divergence to measured updraft velocities. But here's the kicker - very few robust estimates of updraft velocities in severe thunderstorms exist, as it is very difficult to obtain such a measurement, and in many cases, measurements were unintentionally made.