Occurrence of tornado outbreaks influenced by solar wind–magnetosphere–ionosphere–atmosphere coupling

Prikryl, Paul; Rušin, Vojto

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-22-19-2025

Articles | Volume 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-22-19-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-22-19-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22

18 Jul 2025

| 18 Jul 2025

Occurrence of tornado outbreaks influenced by solar wind–magnetosphere–ionosphere–atmosphere coupling

Paul Prikryl and Vojto Rušin

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-22-19-2025-supplement

Data sets

Solar wind spatial scales in and comparisons of hourly Wind and ACE plasma and magnetic field data (http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov) J. H. Kin and N. E. Papitashvili https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JA010649

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

Severe Weather Database Files (1950-2024) NOAA https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/#data

Modified homogeneous data set KOZMOS https://www.kozmos-online.sk/slnko/modifikovany-homogenny-rad-modified-homogeneous-data-set/

Short summary

A link between the solar wind and the occurrence of large tornado outbreaks is found. The solar wind coupling to the Earth’s magnetic field deposits energy into the upper atmosphere at high latitudes. We consider the role of aurorally generated atmospheric gravity waves in the release of instabilities contributing to development of synoptic-scale weather conditions favoring formation of supercells in a strong wind shear environment and high tornado occurrence.