Observation of an EF2 tornado winds using networked radar test-bed

Tornadoes are known as a high-impact weather hazard with fine-scale space-time variability. To detect, monitor and track tornadoes requires very high spatiotemporal resolution sensing observations. Initiated to address this need, a networked sensing concept was recently introduced, known as DCAS paradigm, and a networked Doppler radar system was engineered and deployed in southwest Oklahoma. The system is automated in a closed-loop adaptive control scheme. A scan strategy was developed for dual-Doppler wind measurement close to the ground by optimizing the sensing resource of this multi-nodes radar network. Facilitated by this optimized scan strategy, Doppler wind product was generated in real-time. This paper presents the observations and Doppler wind product of an EF2 tornado touchdown. An offline evaluation of this event demonstrates the improved capability of the networked sensing for detecting and tracking the lower-level tornadic circulation.