Wake low

For the term in fluid dynamics, see Wake.
Image showing the pressure pattern around an organized thunderstorm complex. Near the strong wake low, strong winds and a temperature spike were recorded

A wake low, or wake depression, is a mesoscale low-pressure area which trails the mesoscale high following a squall line.[1] Due to the subsiding warm air associated with the system's formation, clearing skies are associated with the wake low. Once difficult to detect in surface weather observations due to their broad spacing, the formation of mesoscale weather station networks, or mesonets, has increased their detection.[2] Severe weather, in the form of high winds, can be generated by the wake low when the pressure difference between the mesohigh preceding it and the wake low is intense enough.[3] When the squall line is in the process of decay, heat bursts can be generated near the wake low. Once new thunderstorm activity along the squall line concludes, the wake low associated with it weakens in tandem.

  1. ^ "Wake Low". Glossary of Meteorology. American Meteorological Society. 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2018..
  2. ^ Mark R. Conder, Steven R. Cobb, and Gary D. Skwira (2006). West Texas Mesonet Observations of Wake Lows and Heat Bursts Across Northwest Texas. American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 2009-04-24.
  3. ^ David M. Gaffin (October 1999). "Wake Low Severe Wind Events in the Mississippi River Valley: A Case Study of Two Contrasting Events". Weather and Forecasting. 14 (10). AMS: 581–603. Bibcode:1999WtFor..14..581G. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0581:WLSWEI>2.0.CO;2..