Forecasting the Maintenance of Mesoscale Convective Systems Crossing the Appalachian Mountains

Abstract

Forecasting the maintenance of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) is a unique problem in the eastern United States due to the influence of the Appalachian Mountains. At times these systems are able to traverse the terrain and produce severe weather in the lee, while at other times they instead dissipate upon encountering the mountains. To differentiate between crossing and noncrossing MCS environments, 20 crossing and 20 noncrossing MCS cases were examined. The cases were largely similar in terms of their 500-hPa patterns, MCS archetypes, and orientations with respect to the barrier. Analysis of radiosonde data, however, revealed that the environment east of the mountains discriminated between case types very well. The thermodynamic and kinematic variables that had the most discriminatory power included those associated with instability, several different bulk shear vector magnitudes, and also the mean tropospheric wind. Crossing cases were characterized by higher instability, which was found to be partially attributable to the diurnal cycle. However, these cases also tended to occur in environments with weaker shear and a smaller mean wind. The potential reasons for these results, and their forecasting implications, are discussed.