Tornado echo

From Glossary of Meteorology



tornado echo

A type of precipitation echo observed in connection with large, strong tornadoes located at relatively close ranges from a radar.

It appears on PPI displays in the form of a doughnut-shaped echo at the end of a hook echo in a supercell thunderstorm. A quasi-vertical tube having minimum radar reflectivity in the center may be observed on an RHI display or on a vertical sequence of PPI displays.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.