A Comparison Between The Direction of Tornado Movement and the Associated 500 mb. Level Wind Direction

• Main Author: Johnson, Allen B.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well 1964
• Subjects: Tornadoes; Earth Sciences; Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Hudson; Hudson Bay
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol32/iss1/10; https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2512&context=jmas

An investigation to ( 1) determine the 500-milli-bar level weather patterns associated with tornadoes moving from northwest toward southeast and from southwest toward northeast and, (2) show the significance of the contrasts between the 500-mb. level weather patterns of the two tornado types. A very high relationship between the direction of the 500-mb. level winds and the tornado direction was substantiated by a coefficient of correlation of +0.88. The typical 500-mb. level low center associated with the northwest to southeast type tornado was located over Hudson Bay about 1300 miles north-northeast of the tornado area. The low center associated with the southwest to northeast type tornado was positioned over northeast Montana about 900 miles northwest of the tornado area.