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Mesoscale Convective System (MCS)
From SKYbrary Wiki
| Article Information | ||
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| Category: | Weather | 
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| Content source: | SKYbrary | 
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| Content control: | EUROCONTROL | 
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| WX | |
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| Tag(s) | Weather Phenomena |
Definition
Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) - A thunderstorm region which may be round or linear in shape, with a horizontal extent of 100 km (54 nm) or more. MCS form when clouds occurring in response to convective instability amalgamate into a single cloud system with a very large cirriform upper cloud structure.
MCS may include systems such as tropical cyclones, squall lines, and Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs), among others. MCS is a more generalized term which includes systems that do not satisfy the stricter size, shape, or duration criteria of an MCC. They tend to form near weather fronts and move into areas of 1000-500 mb thickness diffluence, which are areas where the low to mid level temperature gradient broadens, which generally steers the thunderstorm clusters into the warm sector of extratropical cyclones, or equatorward of warm fronts. They can also form along any convergent zones within the tropics. Their formation has been noted worldwide.
A Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC) is a unique kind of mesoscale convective system which is defined by characteristics observed in infrared satellite imagery. They are long-lived, nocturnal in formation and commonly contain heavy rainfall, wind, hail, lightning and possibly tornadoes.