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Hoxit, L. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Hoxit, L. R..

A study of tornadic thunderstorm interactions with thermal boundaries

A study of tornadic thunderstorm interactions with thermal boundaries using a model of subcloud wind profiles is presented. Within a hot, moist, and conditionally unstable air mass, warm thermal advection and surface friction cause the winds to veer and increase with height, while within a cool, moist air mass cool thermal advection and friction combine to produce a wind profile that has maximum speeds near the surface and veers little with height. The spatial distribution of different wind profiles and moisture contents within the boundary layer may act together to maximize mesoscale moisture contents, convergence, and cyclonic vorticity within a narrow mixing zone along the thermal boundary.

Maddox, R. A.↗

Interactions Between Convective Storms and Their Environment

The ways in which intense convective storms interact with their environment are considered for a number of specific severe storm situations. A physical model of subcloud wind fields and vertical wind profiles was developed to explain the often observed intensification of convective storms that move along or across thermal boundaries. A number of special, unusually dense, data sets were used to substantiate features of the model. GOES imagery was used in conjunction with objectively analyzed surface wind data to develop a nowcast technique that might be used to identify specific storm cells likely to become tornadic. It was shown that circulations associated with organized meso-alpha and meso-beta scale storm complexes may, on occasion, strongly modify tropospheric thermodynamic patterns and flow fields.

Maddox, R. A.↗

Diurnal and annual temperature variations in the 30-60 km region as indicated by statistical analysis of rocketsonde temperature data.

The relatively large amount of rocketsonde data now available for selected stations together with representative estimates of the solar radiation corrections has been utilized to establish the phases and amplitudes of the diurnal temperature oscillations from 30 to 60 km. Once the magnitude of the solar radiation errors and the diurnal temperature oscillations are established, these values are used to obtain new estimates of the actual mean temperatures for each calendar month.

Hoxit, L. R.↗