Advances in applications of the physics of fluids to severe weather systems

This article is a review of the basic dynamics of severe convective storms. The dynamics are in most instances described with the aid of the vorticity and divergence equations subject to the Boussinesq approximation. The behaviour of ordinary-cell convective storms in the presence of different amounts of vertical shear and its relation to the surface cold pool are explained. The role of vertical shear in the propagation of, and rotation in, supercells is described in detail. How cold pool production, buoyancy, and environmental vertical shear control the structure of mesoscale convective systems is discussed and the mechanism for the production of vortices in them is described. The wind field in tornadoes based on laboratory experiments, simulations, and observations is explained from the dynamics of vortices that interact with an underlying surface. Various theories for tornado formation are presented and evaluated. Avenues for future research using both numerical simulations and new and emerging observing systems are highlighted. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version) This article was invited by Professor A Kostinski. 0034-4885/07/081259+65$90.00 © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 1259