Kinematic structure and evolution of the 9 March 2006 Mississippi/Alabama bow echo.

KINEMATIC STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE 9 MARCH 2006 MISSISSIPPI/ALABAMA BOW ECHO. Calvin M. Elkins, Atmospheric Science Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899.

Bow echoes are a common meteorological phenomenon and are responsible for many severe weather warnings and weather related damage. This is especially the case in the Southeast US during the cold season. On 9 March 2006, a severe cold season squall line formed over Louisiana and intensified just east of Columbus, MS, near the Mississippi -Alabama border, where it assumed a bow echo configuration and produced a long swath of damaging winds from eastern Mississippi to northern Alabama. While the storm exhibited several familiar earmarks of cold-season bow echoes, questions still remain as to why the bow formed exactly where it did and why it evolved from bow to break so quickly. This study specifically investigates the characteristics of this bow echo system (mesoscale and synoptic) during its passage near Columbus, MS, with special attention given to the kinematic structure and evolution of the system.