Vertically integrated liquid density and its associated hail size range across the Burlington, Vermont county warning area

Since 1997 when Vertically Integrated Liquid (VIL) density was introduced as a tool for assessing hail potential in thunderstorms, much research has focused on making better use of this method in operational forecasting during severe weather events. To assess the usefulness of this method in the Burlington, Vermont county warning area, thunderstorm VIL and echo tops were analyzed for a number of severe thunderstorm events, and VIL density was calculated. VIL density was then correlated to the observed reports of hail. The results showed that above a VI L density threshold value of 3.28 gm⁻³ , severe hail occurred in a substantial number of thunderstorm events. Further, results also showed that above a VIL density threshold value of 4.22 gm⁻³ , severe hail occurred in almost every thunderstorm. Conor T. Lahiff. "June 2005." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references (pages 10-12). 2005 NWS (National Weather Service) ER (Eastern Region) Library Public Domain 1931