The Role of Inner Core Moisture in Tropical Cyclone Predictability and Practical Forecast Skill

Abstract

rrors in tropical cyclone intensity forecasts are dominated by initial condition errors out to at least a few days. Initialization errors are usually thought of in terms of position and intensity, but here we show that growth of intensity error is at least as sensitive to the specification of inner core moisture as to that of the wind field. We discuss implications of this finding for tropical cyclone observational strategies and for overall predictability of storm intensity.