Radar signatures#radar#mcs#wind
Rear-inflow jet (RIJ)
At a glance
A river of fast air blowing from behind a squall line into its back — what turns an orderly line into a bow echo and drives damaging surface winds.
Deep dive
The RIJ forms aloft behind the leading convective line, accelerating as it descends into the stratiform region. When it reaches the surface it produces the bow apex and spreads out as straight-line damaging winds.
Radar signatures: a 'rear-inflow notch' in reflectivity behind the bow, and strong inbound velocities in the storm-relative motion product. Operational forecasts use 700–500 hPa flow and low-level CIN-free downstream fetch to project RIJ intensity.