Identification

Title

Sensitivity of Central Oklahoma convection forecasts to upstream potential vorticity anomalies during two strongly forced cases during MPEX

Abstract

The role of upstream subsynoptic forecast errors on forecasts of two different central Oklahoma severe convection events (19 and 31 May 2013) characterized by strong synoptic forcing during the Mesoscale Predictability Experiment (MPEX) are evaluated by applying the ensemble-based sensitivity technique to WRF ensemble forecasts with explicit convection. During both cases, the forecast of the timing and intensity of convection over central Oklahoma is modulated by the southward extent of upstream midtropospheric potential vorticity anomalies that are moving through the base of a larger-scale upstream trough but pass by central Oklahoma prior to convective initiation. In addition, the convection forecasts are also sensitive to the position of lower-tropospheric boundaries, such that moving the boundaries in a manner that would lead to increased equivalent potential temperature over central Oklahoma prior to convective initiation leads to more precipitation. Statistical PV inversion and correlation calculations suggest that the midtropospheric PV and near-surface boundary sensitivities are not independent; the winds associated with the PV error can modulate the position of the lower-tropospheric boundary through advection in a manner consistent with the implied sensitivity. As a consequence, it appears that reducing the uncertainty in specific upstream subsynoptic features prior to convective initiation could improve subsequent forecasts of severe convection.

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document

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http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d78p61vd

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eng

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geoscientificInformation

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publication

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2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

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publication

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2015-10-01T00:00:00Z

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Copyright 2015 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

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OpenSky Support

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UCAR/NCAR - Library

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PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

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opensky@ucar.edu

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http://opensky.ucar.edu/

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