[Part 3 of 3] How do we get supercells and funnel clouds (and in at least one case elsewhere this day, a brief tornado) when surface temperatures feel so cool (50s F)? This isn’t a so-called “cold-air” funnel”, but instead, a fully supercellular circulation in the cold-core region of a midtropospheric cyclone. It’s not common in these parts, but when temperatures 10,000-20,000 feet up are unusually low, atop a seemingly cool but moist near-surface layer, that can yield surface-based instability. Toss in favorable vertical shear and low-level vorticity, and enough lift near the surface from heating and boundaries, and small, low-topped supercells can spin up. California’s Central Valley sees at least one or two of these type events almost every winter, with similar surface temperatures. This was basically a California funnel and weak-tornado setup, but near the western margin of the Ozarks instead! [Back to Part 1]
2 E Afton OK (30 Jan 21) Looking SW
36.685, -94.9222