Weather Patterns and Weather Types

Abstract

AbstractIn popular usage, the terms “weather pattern” and “weather type” are used variously and often imprecisely to describe states of the atmosphere. An understanding of weather processes and patterns has important applications in such diverse areas as air‐quality management, hydrology, water management, human health, forestry, agriculture, energy demand, transportation safety, the insurance industry, economics, and tourism. These terms are formally defined and the various classification techniques that form the basis of synoptic climatology are described. In summarizing the various methods used to identify weather patterns and types, it is abundantly clear that underlying such approaches are significant assumptions about the state of the atmosphere together with varying degrees of subjectivity inherent in the techniques themselves. It is important that these constraints are adequately acknowledged in all applications of the techniques outlined. Finally, the impacts of computing advances, new techniques, and enhanced datasets on synoptic climatology are described.