Abstract
A major tornado spawned by a supercell is reproduced by a fine-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulation, and its genesis mechanism and structure are clarified. The tornado, which is associated with a maximum vertical vorticity of 0.85 s-1 and a pressure drop of 27 hPa, originates from one of the small-scale vortices on the gust front that forms between a warm moist environmental air and a rain-cooled air produced by the storm. Only the small-scale vortex that develops into a major tornado is located right under the low-level updraft associated with the low-level mesocyclone; the others that fail to develop are not. Several interesting previously-unexamined characteristics of the threedimensional structure of the simulated tornado vortex are also reported.
