A numerical study of a rotating downburst

It was found that rotating downbursts may occur when the direction of the wind shear vector in the middle levels of the troposphere varies with height. In the early stages of the convective system, vertical vorticity is generated from tilting of the ambient vertical shear by the updraft, resulting in a vertical vorticity couplet on the flanks of the updraft. Later, the negative buoyancy associated with precipitation loading causes the updraft to collapse and to be eventually replaced by a downdraft downshear of the midlevel updraft. When the direction of the vertical shear vector varies with height, a correlation may develop between the location of the vertical vorticity previously produced by the updraft at midlevels and the location of the developing downdraft. This mechanism causes downbursts to rotate cyclonically when the vertical shear vector veers with height and to rotate anticyclonically when the vertical shear vector backs with height. -from Authors