Meteorology Commons^™

Droughtscape, Fall 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

CDC Issues Drought Guidance for Public Health

La Niña May Intensify Drought in South

Recent Workshops and Meetings

East Feels Impacts as Heat Intensifies Drought

New Products

Nicole Wall Co-Facilitates Republican River Basin Task Force

NDMC Climatologist on Ethiopia Team

Sfa Weather Station-September 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Developing Tornado Climatology In The Southern Great Plains Per Phases Of Prominent Oceanic Oscillations, Nicholas M. Fillo

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Meteorologists are continually working toward a greater understanding of which atmospheric environments are most conducive for tornado development. This Capstone project analyzed tornado occurrences across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana during the period 1950 through 2009 to determine if any correlation exists between the location and frequency of tornado activity and the phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. While it was determined that no phase of any of the oscillations studied was significantly more dominant over the other(s) concerning frequency, this project does identify some spatial shifts in tornado activity depending …

Sfa Weather Station-August 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

A Diagnostic Examination Of Consecutive Extreme Cool-Season Precipitation Events At St. John's, Newfoundland, In December 2008, Shawn M. Milrad, Eyad H. Atallah, John R. Gyakum

Publications

St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada (CYYT), is frequently affected by extreme precipitation events, particularly in the cool season (October–April). Previous work classified precipitation events at CYYT into categories by precipitation amount and a manual synoptic typing was performed on the 50 median extreme precipitation events, using two separate methods. Here, consecutive extreme precipitation events in December 2008 are analyzed. These events occurred over a 6-day period and produced over 125 mm of precipitation at CYYT. The first manual typing method, using a backward-trajectory analysis, results in both events being classified as “southwest,” which were previously defined as the majority of the …

An Intercomparison Of Regional Atmospheric Circulation And The Melt Season Loss Of Arctic Snow Cover And Sea Ice Extent Across The Land–Ocean Boundary, Angela C. Bliss

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study is designed to compare the monthly continental snow cover and sea ice extent loss in the Arctic with regional atmospheric conditions including: mean sea level pressure, 925 hPa air temperature, and mean wind direction among others during the melt season (March-August) over the 29-year study period 1979-2007. Little research has gone into studying the concurrent variations in the annual loss of continental snow cover and sea ice extent across the land-ocean boundary, since these data are largely stored in incompatible formats. However, the analysis of these data, averaged spatially over three autonomous study regions located in Siberia, North …

Sfa Weather Station-July 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Summer 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Upcoming Workshops

Mild Drought Season Likely to Persist

Drought Impacts Intensify in Upper Midwest

Visiting Scientists

North Carolina Takes Drought Monitor Seriously

International Work- Murcia, Spain, June

Assessing The Short-Term Forecast Capability Of Nonstandardized Surface Observations Using The National Digital Forecast Database (Ndfd), Joby Hilliker, G Akasapu, G S. Young

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

The number of surface observations from nonstandardized networks across the United States has appreciably increased the last several years. Automated Weather Services, Inc. (AWS), maintains one example of this type of network offering nonstandardized observations for similar to 8000 sites. The present study assesses the utility of such a network to improve short-term (i.e., lead times < 12 h) National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) forecasts for three parameters most relevant to the energy industry-temperature, dewpoint, and wind speed. A 1-yr sample of 13 AWS sites is chosen to evaluate the magnitude of forecast improvement (skill) and influence of physical location (siting) on such improvements. Hourly predictions are generated using generalized additive modeling (GAM)-a nonlinear statistical equation incorporating a predetermined set of the most significant AWS and NDFD predictors. Two references are used for comparison: (i) persistence climatology (PC) forecasts and (ii) NDFD forecasts calibrated to the AWS sites (CNDFD). The skill, measured via the percent improvement (reduction) in the mean absolute error (MAE), of forecasts generated by the study's technique (CNDFD+) is comparable (< 5%) to PC for lead times of 1-3 h for dewpoint and wind speed. Skill relative to PC slowly increases with lead time, with temperature exhibiting the greatest relative-to-PC skill (similar to 30% at 12 h). When compared to baseline CNDFD forecasts, the MAE of the generated CNDFD+ forecasts is reduced 65% for temperature and dewpoint at the 1-h lead time. An exponential drop in improvement occurs for longer lead times. Wind speed improvements are notably less, with little skill (< 5%) demonstrated for forecasts beyond 4 h. Overall, CNDFD+ forecasts have the greatest accuracy relative to CNDFD and PC for the middle (3-7 h) lead times tested in the study. Variations in CNDFD+ skill exist with respect to AWS location. Tested stations located in complex terrain generally exhibit greater skill relative to CNDFD than the 13-station average for temperature (and, to a lesser degree, dewpoint). Relative to PC, however, the same subset of stations exhibits skill below the 13-station average. No conclusive relationship can be made between CNDFD+ skill and the sample stations located near water.

A Differential Absorption Model For Remote Sensing Of Atmospheric Pressure, Shivam J. Shah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The goal of the project is to develop and test a "model based" radar processing strategy that is compatible with the concept of a "cognitive radar". The basic approach will be to develop a cognitive radar algorithm (genetic algorithm) based on the capabilities of an existing commercially available Software Radio. While the focus of this effort is the development of a candidate approach for genetic algorithm, the longer term goal would be to implement the approach using this software radio technology to provide a low cost radar processor. The proposed technology would use differential absorption radar working at the 50-56 …

Urban Heat Island Expansion In The Greater Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, Alex Remar

Earth and Soil Sciences

The growth of human settlements into vast urban metropolitan areas is often accompanied by relatively higher temperatures in comparison with surrounding rural countrysides, a phenomenon known as the “urban heat island effect.” The city of Las Vegas has been selected as an examination of this trend because of its unprecedented urban growth in the last 50 years, which has been mapped by satellite imagery for several decades. Studying the growth of Las Vegas’ relatively new heat island can provide valuable insight into the causes and magnitude of all urban heat islands in general.

In this investigation, a series of temperature …

Sfa Weather Station-June 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Sfa Weather Station-May 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Evapotranspiration Of Kentucky Bluegrass, Lynda L. Fenton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rapid population growth in arid regions of the western US is placing increased demand on water resources. Variability in precipitation and common occurrence of drought have promoted scrutiny of water use in urban lawns and gardens. However, few reliable measurements of water use of these landscapes exist. Quantifying the amount of water used vs. required by landscapes such as turfgrass would allow significant water conservation. Evapotranspiration (ET) is affected by biophysical factors such as: available energy, turbulent mixing, saturation deficit, soil water, and stomatal conductance. In order to simulate the water use by turfgrass, the relative importance of these processes …

Sfa Weather Station-April 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Information Technology Implementation Decisions To Support The Kentucky Mesonet, D. Michael Grogan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Kentucky Mesonet is a high-density, mesoscale network of automated meteorological and climatological sensing platforms being developed across the commonwealth. Data communications, collection, processing, and delivery mechanisms play a critical role in such networks, and the World Meteorological Organization recognizes that “an observing system is not complete unless it is connected to other systems that deliver the data to the users.” This document reviews the implementation steps, decisions, and rationale surrounding communications and computing infrastructure development to support the Mesonet. A general overview of the network and technology-related research is provided followed by a review of pertinent literature related to …

Droughtscape, Spring 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

NDMC and NC Drought Council Team Up

Drought to Intensify in Northwest and Hawaii

International Work

Impacts Recorded in Hawaii and Western States

U.S. Drought Monitor Archives Enhanced

Low-Water Impact Surveys Completed

K-12 Drought Outreach

Synoptic Typing Of Extreme Cool-Season Precipitation Events At St. John's, Newfoundland, 1979-2005, Shawn M. Milrad, Eyad H. Atallah, John R. Gyakum

Publications

Quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF) continues to be a significant challenge in operational forecasting, particularly in regions susceptible to extreme precipitation events. St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada (CYYT), is affected frequently by such events, particularly in the cool season (October–April).

The 50 median events in the extreme (>33.78 mm during a 48-h period) precipitation event category are selected for further analysis. A manual synoptic typing is performed on these 50 events, using two separate methodologies to partition events. The first method utilizes a Lagrangian backward air parcel trajectory analysis and the second method utilizes the evolution of dynamically relevant variables, including …

Evaluation Of The National Hurricane Center’S Tropical Cyclone Wind Speed Probability Forecast Product, Michael E. Splitt, Jaclyn A. Shafer, Steven M. Lazarus, William P. Roeder

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

A tropical cyclone (TC) wind speed probability forecast product developed at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and adopted by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is evaluated for U.S. land-threatening and landfalling events over four hurricane seasons from 2004 to 2007. A key element of this work is the discernment of risk associated with the interval forecast probabilities for the three wind speed categories (i.e., 34, 50, and 64 kt, where 1 kt = 0.52 m s−1). A quantitative assessment of the interval probabilities (0–12, 12–24, 24–36, 36–48, 48–72, 72–96, and 96–120 h) is conducted by converting …

Sfa Weather Station-March 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.