Short-Interval SMS Wind Vector Determinations for a Severe Local Storms Area

The Use of Moisture Flux Convergence in Forecasting Convective Initiation: Historical and Operational Perspectives

“…Subsequent research also has shown a relationship between surface horizontal mass convergence and convective storms (e.g., Breiland 1958;Matsumoto et al 1967;Anderson and Uccellini 1973;Ulanski and Garstang 1978a,b;Peslen 1980). More recently, Wilson and collaborators have quantified the importance of surface horizontal mass convergence to storms through real-time forecasting experiments and field projects (e.g., Wilson and Schreiber 1986;Wilson and Mueller 1993;Wilson and Megenhardt 1997;Wilson et al 1988Wilson et al , 1998Wilson et al , 2004.…”

The Effect of the Arbitrary Level Assignment of Satellite Cloud Motion Wind Vectors on Wind Analyses in the Pre-thunderstorm Environment

“…This assignment method may ?roduce unreasonable results where the vertical wind shear is small, since the CMV may agree well with the winds throughout a deep layer. However, use of the LBF in conjunction with surface reports of cloud bases and sounding data has produced reasonable and informative mesoscale wind analyses in highly sheared frontal situations (Peslen, 1980;Negri and Vonder Haar, 1980). This review highlights the various approaches to assigning the CMV to a particular level.…”

“…This review highlights the various approaches to assigning the CMV to a particular level. It may be argued, however, that all of the finer aspects of each technique may ha;e ra meaningful impact on diagnostic computations if the next step in the analysis procedure is to "arbitrarily"' assign all the CMV to pressure surfaces which are representative of "low," "middle," or "high" portions of the troposphere as has been done in numerous diagnostic or model studies (Wilson and Houghton, 1979;Peslen, 1980;Negri and Vonder Haar, 1980;Lee and Houghton, 1984a, b). The purpose of the analyses which follow is to determine the impact of the arbitrary assignment of CMV to a "low" pressure surface in a pre-convective storm envirogment.…”

“…Moreover, no comparisons have ever been made between CMV and mesoscale rawinsonde observations obtained in baroclinic, continental situations. Despite this lack of adequate verification, a number of investigators have obtained physically meaningful mesoscale wind fields from satellite cloud motions in continental severe storm situations (Wilson and Houghton, 1979;Peslen, 1980;Negri and Vonder Haar, 1980). Furthermore, the mesoscale information of CMV has been reported by Maddox and Vonder Haar (1979) in terms of statistical structure functions.…”

An objective technique for the delineation and extrapolation of thunderstorms from GOES satellite data

“…Geostationary satellite data in the visible (0.55-0.75 ttm) and IR (10.5-12.6 ttm) channels offer a unique opportunity to observe the location and movement of thunderstorms at the global scale and at a temporal and spatial resolution that is amenable to real-time operational monitoring and nowcasting. Considerable emphasis has been placed on analyses of severe weather situations as recorded on rapid-scan satellite imagery at better than 5-min resolution [Peslen, 1980;Ne•7ri and Vonder Haar, 1980; Wilson and Hou•Ihton, 1979; Adler and Fenn, 1981; Ne•Iri and . However, with practical goals in mind, the normal mode of operation at halfhourly data intervals directed our research effort in favor of an automated, time-independent statistical technique, away from the detailed investigation of case studies.…”