Northern and Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Variability of Blocking Frequency and Predictability

Abstract

Abstract Seven years of analyses and forecasts from the operational archives of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have been analyzed to assess the performance of the model in forecasting blocking events. This paper extends the previous work by Tibaldi and Molteni to the other seasons of the year and to the Southern Hemisphere. The dataset covers the period from 1 December 1980 to 30 November 1987 and consists of 5OO-hPa geopotential height daily analyses and the 120 corresponding forecasts verifying on the same day, a dataset commonly known as the “Lorenz files.” Local blocking and sector blocking have been defined as in Tibaldi and Molteni, using a modified version of the Lejenas and Okland objective blocking index. The results broadly confirm the conclusions previously reached for the winter season alone, extending their validity to the rest of the year and, mutatis mutandis, to the other hemisphere. The main observational difference between blocking in the two hemispheres is in the...