Meteorology 3000- Mountain Weather and Climate
Assignment 6. Fall Front and Snowstorm. Due October 19. 10 points
Much of this assignment will be completed in class on Friday, October 14. Additional information will be provided in class on how to access the information.
A snowstorm hit the Denver area on Monday, October 10. Here are some snow totals around the area: snow totals
(1) Using the enclosed map and the lat/lons/locations of the reports, determine roughly where the heaviest snow totals were observed.
(2) Large-scale evolution. Using the graphics from the RUC analyses:
- (a)
Plot the location of the primary surface cyclone as a function of time on the enclosed map.
Discuss briefly how the surface cyclone developed and evolved from the 8th through the 11th, i.e.,
describe where the location of lowest pressure and highest pressure is as a function of time and how the mangitude of the surface cyclone changed over time.
- (b)Plot the location of the upper level trough axis at the 500 mb level as a function of time on the encloosed map. Relate briefly the location of the upper level trough to the evolution of the surface cyclone.
(3)Local evolution. Use MesoWest to access time series of weather conditions at several (order 3) sites in the vicinity of the heaviest snow. Indicate which stations you used and plot out a time series for those stations.
- When did the snow start, end?
- When did the snow start relative to the occurrence of lowest pressure, wind shifts, etc.?
- Discuss other characteristics of the temporal evolution of this snow storm using the surface weather maps and other resources.
(4)Vertical structure. Use the University of Wyoming web page to access the soundings near Denver.
- What was the elevation of the freezing level from 00z on the 8th through 12z on the 11th?
- Discuss significant changes in temperature, moisture, and wind evident in the soundings during this period.
(5)Radar. You may want to check out the radar imagery for this storm, however it is not required. Use the RAL web page to access the radar data.Set the time back to that during the storm and look at 3-6 hour loops.
- What was the elevation of the freezing level from 00z on the 8th through 12z on the 11th?
