Abstract
Processes which played an important role in the sudden development of an intense narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) along the leading edge of a wintertime anafront are investigated. Quantitative analysis of the Regional Analysis and Forecast System (RAFS) initialization and Nested Grid Model (NGM) forecast fields, satellite-derived water vapor and ozone measurements, and conventional meteorological data are employed in this study. The NCFR developed upon merger of an arctic front with a nearly stationary cold front over the Appalachian mountains. Rapid intensification of an ageostrophic momentum surge associated with the formation of a sub-synoptic played a dominant role in forcing explosive frontogenesis during frontal merger. A deep tropopause fold and related mid-tropospheric subsidence feature within the entrance region of an upper-level jet crossed the mountains at the time of NCFR formation. Synthesis of the surface, NGM, and satellite data suggests that this subsidence resulted in the development of the sub-synoptic high pressure system, whose leading edge was marked by a 5mb pressure jump. Consequential amplifieation and scale contraction of the cross-front pressure gradient indicates that the scale of the merged frontal system contracted just prior to NCFR development. As precipitation developed, the pressure jump took on a microscale character and increased to 8mb amplitude. The subsequent intensity of this frontal rainband is explained by the interaction between vertical shear associated with a strong, pre-frontal, low-level jet and the gravity current-like structure at the leading edge of the merged cold front.
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