Data, Analyses, and Code for Swarmsonde 2019

This dataset includes observations, analyses, and Python code for the “Swarmsonde 2019” project, in which swarms of balloon-borne sondes obtained in-situ thermodynamic and wind observations from above the ground in four supercell thunderstorms in May 2019. The supercells intercepted include a tornadic supercell on 17 May 2019 in southwestern Nebraska, a tornadic supercell on 20 May 2019 in southwestern Oklahoma, a nontornadic supercell on 23 May 2019 in the northeast Texas panhandle, and a tornadic supercell on 23 May 2019 in the northeast Texas Panhandle. Owing to a limited sample of the nontornadic supercell, the three tornadic supercells are the main focus of the project. The resulting analyses yield a three-dimensional picture of supercell thermodynamics related to the baroclinic generation of horizontal vorticity, which has been shown in prior studies to be crucial for the development of a tornado (i.e., tornadogenesis) in supercells. In addition to the balloon-borne sonde observations, the Python code, observations from smoothed environmental base-state soundings, and smoothed radar reflectivity imagery used in the analyses are included.