Entrainment in a Simulated Supercell Thunderstorm. Part II: The Influence of Vertical Wind Shear and General Effects upon Precipitation

Supercell thunderstorms can produce heavy precipitation, and an improved understanding of entrainment may help to explain why. In Part I of this series, various mechanisms of entrainment were identified in the rotating stage of a single simulated supercell thunderstorm. The current study examines the strength and effectiveness of these mechanisms as a function of the environmental vertical wind shear in eight different supercell simulations. Entrainment is calculated directly as fluxes of air over the surface of the storm core; tracers are used to assess the resulting dilution of the moistest air ingested by the storm. Model microphysical rates are used to compare the impacts of entrainment on the efficiency of condensation/deposition of water vapor on hydrometeors within the core, and ultimately, upon precipitation production. Results show that the ascending “ribbons” of horizontal vorticity wrapping around the updraft contribute more to entrainment with increasing vertical wind shear, while turbulent eddies on the opposite side of the updraft contribute less. The storm-relative airstream introduces more low-level air into the storm core with increasing vertical wind shear. Thus, the total entrainment increases with increasing vertical wind shear, but the fractional entrainment decreases, yielding an increase in undiluted air within the storm core. As a result, the condensation efficiency within the storm core also increases with increasing vertical wind shear. Due to the increase in hydrometeors detrained aloft and the resulting enhanced evaporation as they fall, the precipitation efficiency evaluated using surface rainfall decreases with increasing vertical wind shear, as found in past studies.