John Horel

Professor
Director, NOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction
BS : San Jose State University
PhD : University of Washington

Research Interests : Weather observations in the western United States, data assimilation, mountain meteorology, road and fire weather.

Office : 483 INSCC
Phone : 581-7091
E-Mail: jhorel@met.utah.edu

Mesoscale Analysis Committee

Courses

Selected Publications Applied Research On-line Research Presentations

VITA

John D. Horel

Professor
Department of Meteorology
University of Utah

Office: 486 INSCC
Mail: 135 South 1460 East Rm 819
Salt Lake City 84112
Phone: (801) 581-7091
Fax: (801) 581-4362
Email: jhorel@met.utah.edu

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

My research is centered on the observation and analysis of weather and climate processes in mountainous regions. I helped establish the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction in 1996 and currently serve as the Director of the Institute, which conducts a broad program of research aimed at improving weather and climate prediction in regions of complex terrain. The development and implementation of weather support for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics was a critical component of Institute activities from 1996-2002.

My current research activities include further development of MesoWest (see http://www.met.utah.edu), which provides access to surface weather observations for operational, research, and educational applications. MesoWest has evolved since 1996 from providing weather information at a few dozen weather stations in northern Utah using a handful of graphical displays to the current availability of weather conditions at thousands of stations around the nation using a state-of-the-art database and dozens of tabular and graphical displays. Specialized application software has been developed to support the fire weather community (see http://www.met.utah.edu/roman). The MesoWest observations also provide a foundation from which to conduct research to improve data assimilation techniques over complex terrain.

AWARDS

COURSES TAUGHT DURING THE PAST SEVEN YEARS

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

Texts and Book Chapters

Horel, J. D., and J. E. Geisler, 1996: Global Environmental Change: An Atmospheric Perspective. 165 pp. John Wiley and Son.

Horel, J., 2003: Terrain-forced mesoscale circulations. Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Dynamics, Climate, Physical Meteorology, Weather Systems, and Measurements. Edited by T. Potter and B. Colman. Wiley and Sons. 562-573.

Journal Publications

Horel, J., B. Colman, 2005: Meeting Summary: A Community Meeting on Real-Time and Retrospective Mesoscale Objective Analysis: An Analysis of Record Summit. Submitted Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.

Zumpfe, D., J. Horel, 2005: Lake-breeze fronts in the Salt Lake Valley. Submitted J. Appl. Meteor.

Myrick, D., J. Horel, S. Lazarus, 2004: Local Adjustment of the Background Error Correlation for Surface Analyses over Complex Terrain. Wea. Forecasting. In press.

Ludwig, F., J. Horel, C. D. Whiteman, 2004: Using EOF analysis to identify important surface wind patterns in mountain valleys. J. Appl. Meteor., 7, 969-983.

Clements, C. B., C. D. Whiteman, J. D. Horel, 2003: Cold air pool structure and evolution in a mountain basin. J. Appl. Meteor. 42, 752-768.

Doran, C., J. Fast, J. Horel, 2002: The VTMX 2000 Campaign. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 537- 551.

Lazarus, S., C. Ciliberti, J. Horel, K. Brewster, 2002: Near-real-time Applications of a Mesoscale Analysis System to Complex Terrain. Wea. Forecasting, 17, 971-1000.

Horel, J., T. Potter, L. Dunn, W. J. Steenburgh, M. Eubank, M. Splitt, and D. J. Onton, 2002: Weather support for the 2002 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 227-240

Horel, J., M. Splitt, L. Dunn, J. Pechmann, B. White, C. Ciliberti, S. Lazarus, J. Slemmer, D. Zaff, J. Burks, 2002: MesoWest: Cooperative Mesonets in the Western United States. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 211-226.

Schultz, D. M., W. J. Steenburgh, R. J. Trapp, J. Horel, D. E. Kingsmill, L. B. Dunn, W. D. Rust, L. Cheng, A. Bansemer, J. Cox, J. Daugherty, D. P. Jorgensen, J. Meitin, L. Sho well, B. F. Smull, K. Tarp, and M. Trainor, 2002: Understanding Utah winter storms: The Intermountain Precipitation Experiment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 189-210.

White, Bryan G., Paegle, Jan, Steenburgh, W. James, Horel, John D., Swanson, Robert T., Cook, Louis K., Onton, Daryl J., Miles,John G. 1999: Short-Term Forecast Validation of Six Models.Wea. Forecasting. 14, 84-108.

Waldron, Kim M., Paegle, Jan, Horel, John D. 1996: Sensitivity of a Spectrally Filtered and Nudged Limited-Area Model to Outer Model Options. Mon. Wea. Rev., 124, 529-552.

Dunn, Lawrence B., Horel, John D. 1994: Prediction of Central Arizona Convection. Part II: Further Examination of the Eta Model Forecasts.Wea. Forecasting, 9, 508-521.

Dunn, Lawrence B., Horel, John D. 1994: Prediction of Central Arizona Convection. Part I: Evaluation of the NGM and Eta Model Precipitation Forecasts.Wea. Forecasting, 9, 495-507.

Horel, John D., Gibson, Chris V. 1994: Analysis and Simulation of a Winter Storm over Utah. Wea.Forecasting. 9, 479- 494.

Horel, John D., Pechmann, Judith B., Geisler, John E., Hahmann, Andrea N. 1994: Simulations of the Amazon Basin Circulation with a Regional Model.J. Climate. 7, 56-71.

Berbery, Ernesto H., Nogués-Paegle, Julia, Horel, John D. 1992: Wavelike Southern Hemisphere Extratropical Teleconnections.J. Atmos. Sci., 49, 155-177.

Sassen, Kenneth, Horel, John D. 1990: Polarization Lidar and Synoptic Analyses of an Unusual Volcanic Aerosol Cloud. J. Atmos. Sci. 47, 2881-2889.

Barker, Timothy W., Horel, John D. 1989: The Impact of Climatology and Systematic Errors upon the Skill of DERF Forecasts. Mon. Wea. Rev., 117, 2835-2842.

Horel, John D., Hahmann, Andrea N., Geisler, John E. 1989: An investigation of the Annual Cycle of Convective Activity over the Tropical Americas. J. Climate, 2, 1388-1403.

Horel, John D., Staley, Lloyd R., Barker, Timothy W. 1988: The University of Utah Interactive Dynamics Program- One Approach to Interactive Access and Storage of Meteorological Data. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 69, 1321-1327.

Horel, John D., Mechoso, Carlos R. 1988: Observed and Simulated Intraseasonal Variability of the Wintertime Planetary Circulation.J. Climate, 1, 582-599.

Barker, Timothy W., Horel, John D. 1988: Quasi-Stationary Regimes in the Northern Hemisphere of the NCAR Community Climate Model.J. Climate, 1, 406- 417.

Horel, John D., Cornejo-Garrido, Angel G. 1986: *Convection along the Coast of Northern Peru during 1983: Spatial and Temporal Variation of Clouds and Rainfall. Mon. Wea. Rev., 114, 2091-2105.

Horel, John D. 1985: Persistence of Wintertime 500 mb Height Anomalies over the Central Pacific. Mon. Wea. Rev., 113, 2043-2048.

Horel, John D. 1985: Persistence of the 500 mb Height Field during Northern Hemisphere Winter. Mon. Wea. Rev., 113, 2030-2042.

Horel, J. D. 1984: Complex Principal Component Analysis: Theory and Examples.J. Appl. Meteor., 23, 1660-1673.

Van Den Dool, H.M., Horel, J.D. 1984: An Attempt to Estimate the Thermal Resistance of the Upper Ocean to Climatic Change. J. Atmos. Sci., 41, 1601-1612.

Horel, John D. 1982: On the Annual Cycle of the Tropical Pacific Atmosphere and Ocean. Mon. Wea. Rev., 110, 1863-1878.

Horel, John D., Wallace, John M. 1982: Reply. Mon. Wea. Rev., 10, 1497-1497.

Horel, John D. 1981: A Rotated Principal Component Analysis of the Interannual Variability of the Northern Hemisphere 500 mb Height Field. Mon. Wea. Rev., 109, 2080-2092.

Horel, John D., Wallace, John M. 1981: Planetary-Scale Atmospheric Phenomena Associated with the Southern Oscillation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 109, 813-829.

GRADUATE STUDENTS (area of employment)

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

RECENT INVITED PRESENTATIONS

FEDERAL RESEARCH SUPPORT DURING THE PAST TEN YEARS

Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction. Agency: NOAA. Total amount: $375,000. Period covered: July 2004-June 2007. (Co-PI J. Steenburgh)

Development of a Nationwide, Weather Observation Monitor for Fire Weather Applications. Agency: BLM. Total amount: $410,000. Period covered: July 2002-Apr. 2005

Evaluation of the NCEP Regional Reanalyses over Complex Terrain. Agency: NOAA Office of Global Programs. Total amount: $245,897. Period covered: March 2004-February 2007. (Co-PI J. Steenburgh, W. Cheng)

Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction. Agency: NOAA. Total amount: $500,000. Period covered: January 2000-June 2004. (Co-PI T. Potter, J. Steenburgh)

Analysis of the Planetary Boundary Layer in an Urban Valley. Agency: DOE. Total amount: $378,000. Period covered: Nov. 1999-Oct. 2004. (Co-PI S. Lazarus)

Planning Weather Support for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Agency: NOAA. Total amount: $380,000. 4/00-3/02. (Co-PI T. Potter, J. Steenburgh)

Mesoscale Modeling Studies of Warm Season Rainfall in the PACS Domain. Agency: NOAA OGP. Total amount: $171,686. Period covered: March 1998-March 2000. (Co-PI J. Steenburgh)

Evaluation and Application of the Eta Adjoint Model. Agency: NSF. Total amount: $105,900. Period covered: June 1996-May 1998.

Regional Climate Simulations over the Tropical Americas. Agency: NOAA. Award amount: $171,000. Award dates: May 1995-April 1997. (Co-PI J. Pechmann)

Evaluation of the ETA model over the western United States. Agency: NSF. Award Amount: $229,232. Award Dates: April 1994-March 1996. (Co-PI J. Paegle)

Analysis and Simulation of Interannual Variations in Rainfall along the west coast of South America. Agency: NOAA. Award Amount: $114825. Dates: June 1993.June 1995. (Co-PI J. Pechmann)