Does a meso mean the storm is a supercell?
The simple answer is no! A meso cyclone is a storm-scale region of rotation that may be associated with many different types of storms such as squall lines, multicell clusters and many other dynamic individual types such as arrow head multiclusters, dotted comma echo lines etc.. So with that in mind a storm with a mesocyclone is not a supercell unless it matches specific criteria and most commonly storms other than supercells that contain mesocyclones usually are not long lived and the meso cyclone will exist briefly (less than 1 hour). What is the difference between supercells and non-supercells? For a true supercell to develop it must meet several critical criteria’s. The first is that it must have a mesocyclone. Second once the mesocyclone developers 90% of all the other drafts within the storm must feed into the mesocyclone. Third the leading edge of a supercells precipitation area is characterized by light rain. Heavier rain falls closer to the updraft with torrential rain and/ or
