Comments on "The strongest winds in tornadoes are very near the ground"

Abstract

Kosiba and Wurman (KW) investigated the vertical variations of windspeeds observed in tornadoes by mobile Doppler radars over the last 30 y. By comparing windspeeds observed at the lowest altitudes, including some within 15 m of the surface, KW conclude that the most extreme instantaneous winds in tornadoes occur very near the ground. Importantly, KW distinguish between this finding and recent studies using large-eddy simulations (LES) by Nolan et al. (N17) that show maximum azimuthally and temporally averaged windspeeds occurring at 30–70 m AGL. Here we show that, when the N17 model output is processed in a manner similar to KW, the same result is found: the most extreme instantaneous winds occur below 20 m AGL. This result strengthens the claims of KW, since LES produce the same result as their observational analysis.