Outflow (meteorology)

Radar image animation of an outflow boundary of a storm approaching Tulsa, Oklahoma. The outflow boundary's weak echo moves left-to-right and passes overhead of the Doppler radar station. The outflow produces a gust front that moves ahead of the main thunderstorm.

Outflow, in meteorology, is air that flows outwards from a storm system. It is associated with ridging, or anticyclonic flow. In the low levels of the troposphere, outflow radiates from thunderstorms in the form of a wedge of rain-cooled air, which is visible as a thin rope-like cloud on weather satellite imagery or a fine line on weather radar imagery. For observers on the ground, a thunderstorm outflow boundary often approaches in otherwise clear skies as a low, thick cloud that brings with it a gust front.

Low-level outflow boundaries can disrupt the center of small tropical cyclones. However, outflow aloft is essential for the strengthening of a tropical cyclone. If this outflow is restricted or undercut, the tropical cyclone weakens. If two tropical cyclones are close, the upper-level outflow from the upwind system can limit the development of the other system.