Warm frontal structure in association with a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone
Open Access
- 1 March 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Atmosphere-Ocean
- Vol. 34 (1), 103-132
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.1996.9649559
Abstract
The detailed characteristics of a CASPII warm frontal passage are presented in this article. This storm, Intensive Operating Period (IOP) 13 (February 26–27, 1992), was observed in detail with an array of diverse instruments. It has the advantage over earlier freezing precipitation studies of having simultaneous, in situ and remote sensing measurements by aircraft and ground‐based Doppler radar. The associated precipitation was in the form of banded structures parallel to the front. Within these bands were embedded precipitation cores, some parallel to the band, some perpendicular. The warm front itself was characterized by major perturbations in its kinematic and thermodynamic features. The cores oriented parallel to the front were the result of embedded convection generated, at least in part, by the irregularities in the frontal surface. The cores oriented perpendicular to the front were closely associated with the 0°C isotherm on the underside of the frontal inversion. Precipitation phase changes played a significant role in the occurrence of wide near 0°C regions, both vertically and horizontally. These regions had a profound influence on the observed precipitation types and led to complex precipitation‐thermodynamic‐dynamic interactions. Instabilities produced by these interactions are seen in wave‐like features observed by the Doppler radar in these regions, both parallel and perpendicular to the frontal zone.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Microphysical Characteristics through the Melting Region of a Midlatitude Winter StormJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1991
- Canadian Atlantic Storms Program: Progress and Plans of the Meteorological ComponentBulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 1991
- Winter storm structure and melting‐induced circulationsAtmosphere-Ocean, 1989
- The Mesoscale and Microscale Structure and Organization of Clouds and Precipitation in Midlatitude Cyclones: XVI: Three Dimensional Airflow and Vertical Vorticity Budget for a Warm FrontJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1988
- The Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying cyclones over the Atlantic (ERICA) Field Study: Objectives and PlansBulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 1988
- Rain‐snow boundaries and freezing precipitation in Canadian East Coast winter stormsAtmosphere-Ocean, 1988
- Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE): An OverviewBulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 1988
- The Mesoscale and Microscale Structure and Organization of Clouds and Precipitation in Midlatitude Cyclones. XIII: Structure of a Warm FrontJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1987
- On the Analysis of Single-Doppler Radar DataJournal of Applied Meteorology, 1979
- Objective Determination of the Noise Level in Doppler SpectraJournal of Applied Meteorology, 1974