A Climatology of the Structure, Evolution, and Propagation of Midlatitude Cyclones in the Southeast United States

Ferreira, Rosana Nieto; Hall, Linwood Earl; Rickenbach, Thomas M.

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-12-00657.1

Cited by 21 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Or, is the time scale irrelevant for the application of this definition? Certainly the published literature refers to rain shadows at all time scales, from instantaneous radar imagery (e.g., Brady and Waldstreicher 2001) to storm-total precipitation (e.g., Ralph et al 2003;Sindosi et al 2015) to average seasonal and annual precipitation amounts (e.g., Nieto Ferreira et al 2013;Kenworthy 2014;Lenaerts et al 2014;Narkhedkar et al 2015) to geological time scales (e.g., Galewsky 2009). Such diversity of usage would imply that there is no agreement on the necessity of a time scale to classify a reduction in precipitation across a mountain range as a rain shadow.…”

Section: ) No Time Scale Is Mentioned In This Definition Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Rain-Shadow Effect: Results from the Peak District, British Isles

Stockham

Schultz

Fairman

et al. 2018

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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Although rain shadows (i.e., leeside reductions of precipitation downwind of orography) are commonly described in textbooks, quantitative climatologies of the rain-shadow effect are rare. To test quantitatively a classic rain-shadow locality of the Peak District, United Kingdom, precipitation from 54 observing stations over 30 years (1981–2010) are examined. Under 850-hPa westerlies, annual and daily precipitation amounts are on average higher in Manchester in the west and the Peak District than in Sheffield in the east. More precipitation falls—and falls more frequently—frequently in Manchester than Sheffield on 197 westerly flow days annually. In contrast, more precipitation falls—and falls more frequently—in Sheffield than Manchester on 28 easterly flow days annually. These bulk precipitation statistics support a climatological rain shadow. However, when individual days are investigated, only 17% of westerly flow days occur where daily rainfall data might exhibit the rain-shadow effect (defined here as Manchester with precipitation and Sheffield with no precipitation). In contrast, only 10% of easterly flow days occur where daily rainfall data might exhibit the rain-shadow effect (Sheffield with precipitation and Manchester with no precipitation). Thus, westerly winds are more likely to exhibit a rain-shadow effect than easterly winds. Although the distribution of precipitation observed across the Peak District can sometimes be explained by the rain-shadow effect, the occurrence of the rain-shadow effect by our admittedly strict definition is not as frequent as one might expect to explain the local precipitation climate for which it has sometimes been previously credited. Thus, an attempt to understand the climatological relevance of the rain-shadow effect from one location reveals ambiguity in the definition of a rain shadow and in its interpretation from real rainfall data.

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Section: ) No Time Scale Is Mentioned In This Definition Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Rain-Shadow Effect: Results from the Peak District, British Isles

Stockham

Schultz

Fairman

et al. 2018

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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“…Wind direction switches from the southern to northern quadrats, which can result in oscillations of bay water level and associated flushing of the bays (Feng & Li, ). A weather system in the cold seasons (October–April) is often characterized by the existence of an eastward‐propagating midlatitude cyclone that extends far to the subtropics (Ferreira et al, ). The coastal area of central northern Gulf of Mexico has microtides (maximum tidal range is ∼0.6 m).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold Front Driven Flows Through Multiple Inlets of Lake Pontchartrain Estuary

Huang

2017

JGR Oceans

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With in situ observations using acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) and numerical experiments using the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM), this study investigates atmospheric cold front induced exchange of water between Lake Pontchartrain Estuary and coastal ocean through multiple inlets. Results show that the subtidal hydrodynamic response is highly correlated with meteorological parameters. Northerly and westerly winds tend to push water out of Lake Pontchartrain, while south and east winds tend to produce currents flowing into it. For most cases, the subtidal water level is inversely correlated with the east wind, with the correlation coefficient being ∼0.8. The most important finding of this work is that, contrary to intuition, the cold front induced remote wind effect has the greatest contribution to the overall water level variation, while the local wind stress determines the surface slope inside the estuary. It is found that wind driven flow is roughly quasi steady state: the surface slope in the north‐south direction is determined by the north‐south wind stress, explaining ∼83% of the variability but less so in the east‐west direction (∼43%). In other words, the north‐south local wind stress determines the water level gradient in that direction in the estuary while the overall water level change is pretty much controlled by the open boundary which is the “remote wind effect,” a regional response that can be illustrated only by a numerical model for a much larger area encompassing the estuary.

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“…Sea level pressure analyses derived from surface pressure observations have often been used to produce climatologies of synoptic storm tracks (Reitan 1974;Zishka and Smith 1980). More recent climatologies of synoptic storm tracks rely on pressure data derived from numerical model reanalyses (Thomas and Martin 2007;Nieto Ferreira et al 2013). Pressure tendency (i.e., the change in pressure over a specified duration) has been used frequently to identify preferred geographical locations for cyclogenesis and anticyclogenesis (Sanders and Gyakum 1980;Krueger and von Storch 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Central and Eastern U.S. Surface Pressure Variations Derived from the USArray Network

Jacques

Horel

Crosman

et al. 2015

Monthly Weather Review

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Large-magnitude pressure signatures associated with a wide range of atmospheric phenomena (e.g., mesoscale gravity waves, convective complexes, tropical disturbances, and synoptic storm systems) are examined using a unique set of surface pressure sensors deployed as part of the National Science Foundation EarthScope USArray Transportable Array. As part of the USArray project, approximately 400 seismic stations were deployed in a pseudogrid fashion across a portion of the United States for 1-2 yr, then retrieved and redeployed farther east. Surface pressure observations at a sampling frequency of 1 Hz were examined during the period when the seismic array was transitioning from the central to eastern continental United States. Surface pressure time series at over 900 locations were bandpass filtered to examine pressure perturbations on three temporal scales: meso-(10 min-4 h), subsynoptic (4-30 h), and synoptic (30 h-5 days) scales.Case studies of strong pressure perturbations are analyzed using web tools developed to visualize and track tens of thousands of such events with respect to archived radar imagery and surface wind observations. Seasonal assessments of the bandpass-filtered variance and frequency of large-magnitude events are conducted to identify prominent areas of activity. Large-magnitude mesoscale pressure perturbations occurred most frequently during spring in the southern Great Plains and shifted northward during summer. Synopticscale pressure perturbations are strongest during winter in the northern states with maxima located near the East Coast associated with frequent synoptic development along the coastal storm track.

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A Climatology of the Structure, Evolution, and Propagation of Midlatitude Cyclones in the Southeast United States

Cited by 21 publications

References 40 publications

Quantifying the Rain-Shadow Effect: Results from the Peak District, British Isles

Quantifying the Rain-Shadow Effect: Results from the Peak District, British Isles

Cold Front Driven Flows Through Multiple Inlets of Lake Pontchartrain Estuary

Central and Eastern U.S. Surface Pressure Variations Derived from the USArray Network

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