Terra Thompson
School of Meteorology
The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
01 May 2009, 2:00 PM
National Weather Center, Room 5600
120 David L. Boren Blvd.
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK
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On 29 May 2004 the NWT Phased Array Radar (PAR) observed a tornadic supercell that traversed central Oklahoma. The PAR gathered a unique data set, with volumetric data available every 20-30 seconds during a several hour period when the storm was less than 100 km from the radar. Using the EnKF methodology from Dowell and Wicker (2008) the PAR velocity and reflectivity data are assimilated to generate storm-scale analyses representing the thermodynamic and kinematic structure of the supercell. Results show the sensitivity of the assimilation analyses to the frequency of data insertion. Comparing analyses produced from assimilating data every minute with analyses produced from assimilating data approximately every five minutes show that higher frequency data improves the analysis of the storm especially early on in the assimilation period. This study also investigates a method to use low frequency data to produce analyses comparable to those from high frequency data. Finally results of forecasts initialized with above analyses are discussed.
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