In this study, the correlations between AST850 and precipitation, and those between WDT and precipitation in the Yeongdong coastal region under the direct/indirect influence of the expansion of cP (continental polar air mass) high were quantitatively analyzed based on the winter season data for the last 20 years, according to surface pressure patterns such as Type 1 (cP high expansion type), Type 2 (cP high expansion + trough type), Type 4 (South trough type), and Type 5 (East Sea trough type). Here, AST850 represents 'sea surface temperature minus temperature on 850 hPa level' and WDT represents 'a speed of 1000 hPa wind projected onto a certain wind direction times precipitation duration in hour'. First, the correlation coefficients between AST850 and precipitation in Type 1, Type 2, and Type 5 cases were 0.253, 0.384, and 0.398 respectively, indicating that a tendency of increasing precipitation linearly with the value of AST850 is slightly presented. In the case of Type 4, however, the coefficient was −0.15, representing almost no linear correlation between AST850 and precipitation. In the correlation between WDT and precipitation, there was the largest correlation coefficient (0.464) between WDT along a direction of 90 o and at EN1 in Type 1 cases. In the case of Type 2, there was the largest correlation coefficient (0.767) between WDT along a direction of 67.5 o and at ES1. In the case of Type 4, there was the largest correlation coefficient (0.559) between WDT along a direction of 22.5 o and at EN2. Finally, in the case of Type 5, there was the largest correlation coefficient (0.945) between WDT along a direction of 315 o and at SE1, representing the largest coefficient among the types. It was found that surface wind directions with the highest correlations to precipitation in the Yeongdong coastal area on winter season were varied according to surface pressure patterns, and that the correlations between WDT and precipitation were higher than those between AST850 and precipitation.

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It is well known that when the Siberian High expands to the western part of the East Sea (Japan Sea), the distribution of snowfall amount is mainly controlled by the topography. Therefore, the maximum area of the precipitation is typically located over the slopes and near the summit of the Taebaek Mountains (called Type A). However, sometimes there were snowfall maxima near the Yeongdong coastal area of Korea rather than the neighboring mountains (called Type B) for some events. Two heavy snowfall events of 20-21 January 2008 of Type A (named by Event A) and of 13 January 2008 of Type B (named by Event B) were selected to understand the differences in the locations of snowfall maxima in the Yeongdong region of Korea. To do so, we investigated the differences between the two events in the movement of the air parcels leading to the understanding of the heavy snowfall mechanism using 3-dimensional trajectory analyses which applied the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) high resolution output as 3-dimensional meteorological fields. In this study, an upward motion under the influence of the northeasterly wind was observed along the slope of the mountains during Event A. In contrast, there was a strong downward motion along the slope of the mountains under the influence of the northwesterly wind while the parcels were reaching Gangneung (GN, hereafter) during the snowfall period of Event B. Furthermore, during Event B, the convergence of the parcels different in potential temperature and mixing ratio, yielded a favorable condition for forming a coastal front (discontinuity zone) around the Yeongdong coastal area. This lead to heavy snowfall over GN in the coastal plain region rather than in Daegwallyeong (DG, hereafter) near the summit of the Taebaek Mountains, which differs from the snowfall distribution of Event A.

This study analyzed atmospheric conditions for the convergent cloud band (Cu-Cb line) in developing stage and its neighbouring convections formed over the East Sea on 1 February 2012, by using synoptic, satellites data, and WRF numerical simulation output of high resolution. In both satellite images and the WRF numerical simulation outputs, the Cu-Cb line that stretched out toward northwest-southeast was shown in the East Sea, and cloud lines of the L mode were aligned in accordance with the prevailing surface wind direction. However, those of the T mode were aligned in the direction of NE-SW, which was nearly perpendicular direction to the surface winds. The directions of the wind shear vectors connecting top winds and bottom winds of the moist layers of the L mode and the T mode were identical with those of the cloud lines of L mode and T mode, respectively. From the WRF simulation convection circulations with a convergence in the lower layer of atmosphere and a divergence above 1.5 km ASL (Above Sea Level) were identified in the Cu-Cb line. A series of small sized vortexes (maximum vortex: 320 × 10 −5 s −1 ) of meso-γ-scale formed by convergences was found along the Cu-Cb lines, suggesting that Cu-Cb lines, consisting of numerous convective clouds, were closely associated with a series of the small vortexes. There was an absolute unstable layer (∂θ/ ∂z < 0) between sfc and ~0.3 km ASL, and a stable layer (∂θ/∂z > 0) above ~2 km ASL over the Cu-Cb line and cloud zones. Not only convectively unstable layers (∂θ e /∂z < 0) but also neutral layers (∂θ e /∂z ≈ 0) in the lower atmosphere (sfc~1.5 km ASL) were scattered around over the cloud zones. Particularly, for the Cu-Cb line there were convectively unstable layers in the surface layer, and neutral layers (∂θ e /∂z ≈ 0) between 0.2 and ~1.5 km ASL over near the center of the Cu-Cb line, and the neutralization of unstable layers came from the release of convective instability.