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Climatology
Climatology involves the study of the distribution of weather events in time and space. A big part of our understanding of hazardous weather begins with observations. Unfortunately, most weather hazards aren't observed systematically. Because the events typically affect small areas in space and time, they are inherently difficult to observe. In many cases, we depend on the presence of an observer and a system to collect those observations. Often, they are absent or, at least, minimal. Thus, environmental observations can also provide insight into hazardous weather. MAG staff are involved in a range of activities that help build our understanding of weather hazards.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
- Events - Descriptions of major severe thunderstorm and tornado events since 2000.
- Reporting issues - Severe thunderstorm reports depend on having an observer. Practices change through time and space. What does that mean for the interpretation of reports?
- Hazards - Estimates of the occurrence of severe thunderstorms around the US, including the annual cycle of threats at individual locations and movie loops of the threat around the country through the year.
- Environments - Looking at the conditions surrounding the formation of severe thunderstorms is another way to improve guidance for forecasters and climate applications.
NON-THUNDERSTORM WEATHER
- Surface and upper-air data archive - One way that NSSL serves the meteorological community is by providing data on past meteorological events. The NSSL Historical Weather Data Archives web page was developed by NSSL and one of our sister research laboratories Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
- Drizzle - Not much is known about the conditions under which drizzle forms over North America. MAG scientists have constructed a climatology of drizzle occurrence. Drizzle falls 50-200 hours a year in most locations in the eastern United States and Canada, although less than 50 hours a year in most of the west.
REANALYSIS PROJECT
- Observations aren't always taken where and when we want them. Using estimates of historical atmospheric conditions from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, MAG scientists have developed relationships between environmental conditions and severe thunderstorm events and used them to estimate the distribution of severe thunderstorms around the world
PAC-SONET (Pan American Climate Studies Sounding Network)
- This project was designed to collect low-cost upper atmospheric data from Central and South America. Pilot balloon observations, used at first to reanalyze the quality of the windfields over the area, are now available in a real-time data collection and distribution network for climate research activities and experiments.
- One of MAG's scientists was a principal investigator in the 2004 North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME), a large field campaign to gather data that, when analyzed, will contribute to more accurate predictions of droughts and floods associated with monsoons for Mexico and the western U.S. The Mexico observing network
