Understanding Oklahoma’s Weather and Climate: The Data, the Tools, and the Technology
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Understanding Oklahoma’s Weather and Climate: The Data, the Tools, and the Technology Jeffrey B. Basara Director of Research Oklahoma Climatological Survey University of Oklahoma Oklahoma SCAUG User Group Meeting 3 June 2010
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Oklahoma SCAUG User Group Meeting 3 June 2010. Understanding Oklahoma’s Weather and Climate: The Data, the Tools, and the Technology. Jeffrey B. Basara Director of Research Oklahoma Climatological Survey University of Oklahoma. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Understanding Oklahoma’s Weather and Climate: The Data, the Tools, and the Technology
Understanding Oklahoma’s Weather and Climate: The Data, the Tools, and the
Technology
Jeffrey B. BasaraDirector of ResearchOklahoma Climatological SurveyUniversity of Oklahoma
Oklahoma SCAUG User Group Meeting3 June 2010
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey
A state entity with specific legislative mandates housed at the University of Oklahoma in the National Weather Center.
1. To acquire, process, and disseminate, in the most cost effect way possible, all weather and climate information which is or could be of value to policy and decision makers in the state;
2. To act as the representative of the state in all climatological and meteorological manners both within and outside the state when requested to do so by the legislative or executive branches of the state government;
3. To prepare, publish, and disseminate regular climate summaries for those individuals, agencies, or organizations whose activities are related to the welfare of the state and are affected by climate and weather.
4. To conduct and report on studies of weather and climate phenomena of significant socio-economic importance to the state.
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey
A state entity with specific legislative mandates housed at the University of Oklahoma in the National Weather Center.
5. To evaluate the significance of natural and man-made deliberate and inadvertent changes or modifications in important features of the climate and weather affecting the state, and to report this information to those agencies and organizations in the state who are likely to be affected by such changes or modifications; and
6. To maintain and operate the Oklahoma Mesonetwork, a statewide environmental monitoring network which is overseen by the Mesonet Steering Committee, comprised of representatives of the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University according to its Memorandum of Agreement. The director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey shall be accountable for executing the policies of the Mesonet Steering Committee.
Background – The Climate of Oklahoma
Historically, the assessment of climate in Oklahoma is based on two observed variables – temperature and precipitation.
Background – The Climate of Oklahoma
Historically, the assessment of climate in Oklahoma is based on two observed variables – temperature and precipitation.
Background – The Climate of Oklahoma
Historically, the assessment of climate in Oklahoma is based on two observed variables – temperature and precipitation.
http://climate.ok.gov
Background
Weather and climate network covering 181,186 square kilometers-- Planned 1986-1991
Commissioned in 1994 Joint project between the Oklahoma State
University and the University of Oklahoma. Atmospheric measurements with 5-minute
resolution, available to users within 5 minutes of collection
Subsurface temperature and moisture measurements at various depths
Over 4 billion observations archived
Technical Details
120 remote weather stations 3300 sensors and 250
computers linked About 700,000 observations
ingested each day 2-way communications Solar powered 30-day storage in on-site
dataloggers Produce ~63,000 products and
files for users each day
Real-time Products
www.mesonet.org
Products Using Archived Data
Weatherscope Visualization Software
Outreach
Earthstorm: K-12 Outreach 150 teachers educated; Over 5000 students educated to use
Mesonet data in the classroom
OK-First: Public Safety Outreach 450 emergency managers educated who rely on Mesonet data
and services
OK-FIRE: Fire Manager Outreach 125 Oklahoma fire officials educated to use Mesonet fire
products
Agweather: Agriculture Outreach 100s of farmers and ranchers educated how to use Mesonet
products and models in their farm and ranch decisions
Outreach
OKC Micronet• Network of 40 stations (4 Mesonet Sites, 36 Traffic
Signal Sites): ~3 km station spacing.• 1-minute Data Collection – Real-time and archive
quality assurance (QA).• 5+ year effort.• True collaboration with Oklahoma City.• All sites were deployed by 1 June 2008 and the
network was commissioned on 8 November 2008.• 640,000+ observations are collected each day
(including the 4 Mesonet stations).
Traffic Signal Station
Wifi Node
Ethernet Cable
Urban Heat Island Example
• 11 December 2008• 7:00 am CDT• Observations at 9 m• Temperature = oC• Weak Wind Case
OKC Micronet Webpage – okc.mesonet.org
OCS GIS Examples
Pilot study to provide more realistic estimates of hail occurrence.
An applied climatology of supercell thunderstorms and squall lines.
Hail Example
OCS was posed with the question “How much hail occurs?”• The “right” answer didn’t exist
The Research Plan:• Using the 15 WSR-88D radars in and around Oklahoma,
determine how much hail occurred over a 3 year period. • Weather Decisions Technologies Inc. (WDT; a partner for this
project) has a product called HailTrax, which allows hail swaths to be produced from radar data.
• Use the Hailswath algorithm from WDT to create hail swaths for this period.
• Combine GIS and Radar Data as a new method to increase our understanding of the physical processes.
Recent Hail
Raw Hailswath Output
Contoured Example for Significant ( > 2.00”) and
Severe Hail ( > 0.75”)
Hail Example – 5 April 2003
2003-Significant
2001-2003-Significant
Supercell / Squall Line Project
Develop a GIS storm climatology dataset of supercell and squall line storm modes across Oklahoma during 1994-2003 to quantify the spatial occurrence of storms.
► Determine the spatial characteristics of each specific storm mode: Where are high frequency maxima? Minima? Where do storms most frequently initiate? What are typical storm motions over different months?
► Determine potential meteorological applications of the GIS dataset
Radar Data
Level-II and Level-III radar data were obtained from the NCDC online archive for sites nearest storm report data at the corresponding times for all 332 events and viewed using GRLevel2 and the NCDC Java NEXRAD Viewer
Example Supercell Tracking
May 3, 1999May 3, 1999
KTLX radar at 00:07:25 UTC on 4 May 1999 KTLX radar at 00:07:25 UTC on 4 May 1999
Example Squall Line Tracking
May 27, 2001May 27, 2001KTLX radar at 03:53:54 UTC on 28 May 2001 KTLX radar at 03:53:54 UTC on 28 May 2001
GIS Representation of Supercells
Tracking PointsTracking Points Cell TracksCell Tracks
Supercell TracksSupercell Tracks Supercell SwathsSupercell Swaths
GIS Representation of Squall Lines
Tracking PointsTracking Points Squall Line TracksSquall Line Tracks
Squall Line PolygonsSquall Line Polygons Squall Line PolygonSquall Line Polygon
Supercell Monthly Spatial Frequencies
JanuaryJanuaryFebruaryFebruaryMarchMarchAprilAprilMayMayJuneJuneJulyJulyAugustAugustSeptemberSeptemberOctoberOctoberNovemberNovemberDecemberDecemberAll MonthsAll Months
Supercell Track Density
All Supercell TracksAll Supercell Tracks
Squall Line Monthly Spatial Frequencies
JanuaryJanuaryFebruaryFebruaryMarchMarchAprilAprilMayMayJuneJuneJulyJulyAugustAugustSeptemberSeptemberOctoberOctoberNovemberNovemberDecemberDecemberAll MonthsAll Months
Squall Line Initiation Density
All Squall Line Initiation LinesAll Squall Line Initiation Lines
Squall Line Termination Density
All Squall Line Termination LinesAll Squall Line Termination Lines
Important ReferencesBasara, J. B., D. R. Cheresnick, D. Mitchell, and B. G. Illston, 2007: An analysis of Severe Hail Swaths in the Southern Plains of the United States. Trans. in GIS, 11, 531-554.
Basara, J. B., B. G. Illston, C. A. Fiebrich, P. Browder, C. Morgan, J. P. Bostic, A. McCombs, R. A. McPherson, A. J. Schroeder, and K. C. Crawford, 2010: The Oklahoma City Micronet. Meteorological Applications, DOI:10.1002/met.189.
Hocker, J. E., and J. B. Basara, 2008: A ten year spatial climatology of squall line storms across Oklahoma. Int. J. Climatol., 28, 765-775. Hocker, J. E., and J. B. Basara, 2008: A geographic information systems based analysis of supercells across Oklahoma. J. Appl. Meteor. and Climatol., 47, 1518-1538.
McPherson, R.A., C.A. Fiebrich, K.C. Crawford, R.L. Elliott, J.R. Kilby, D.L. Grimsley, J.E. Martinez, J.B. Basara, B.G. Illston, D.A. Morris, K.A. Kloesel, S.J. Stadler, A.D. Melvin, A.J. Sutherland, H. Shrivastava, J.D. Carlson, J.M. Wolfinbarger, J.P. Bostic, and D.B. Demko, 2007: Statewide Monitoring of the Mesoscale Environment: A Technical Update on the Oklahoma Mesonet. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 24, 301–321.
Questions?
