THE MOTION AND PREDICTABILITY OF PRECIPITATION LINES

Abstract

Analysis of radar film from New England and the midwest has shed additional light on the relation of precipitation-line motion to upper winds, the direction of motion, the line lifetimes and the regious of appearance and disappearance. The mechanics of line motion are discussed, and an expression is derived by taking into account advection and development. A series of objective tests on the line-motion predictability leads to a suggested technique for forecasting the arrival of a line at a particular point.