Gap Winds Research Articles

Fatalities Associated with Nonconvective High-Wind Events in the United States

Abstract A database was compiled for the period 1980–2005 to assess the threat to life in the conterminous United States from nonconvective high-wind events. This study reveals the number of fatalities from these wind storms, their cause, and their unique spatial distributions. While tornadoes continue to cause the most wind-related fatalities per year, nonconvective high winds (defined as phenomena such as downslope and gap winds, gradient winds, dust storms, and winds associated with midlatitude cyclones) have the potential to fatally injure more people than thunderstorm or hurricane winds. Nonconvective wind fatalities occur more frequently in vehicles or while boating. Fatalities are most common along the West Coast and Northeast in association with passing extratropical cyclones, with fewer fatalities observed in the central United States despite this region’s susceptibility for high-wind gusts. A combination of physical and social vulnerabilities is suggested as the cause for the unique fatality distribution found. More than 83% of all nonconvective wind fatalities are associated with the passage of extratropical cyclones.

Transport of Atmospheric Aerosol by Gap Winds in the Columbia River Gorge

Abstract Typical diurnal wind patterns and their relationship to transport of atmospheric aerosol in the Columbia River gorge of Oregon and Washington are addressed in this paper. The measurement program included measurements of light scattering by particles (bsp) with nephelometers, and wind speed and direction, temperature, and relative humidity at seven locations in the gorge. Winds are shown to respond to along-gorge pressure gradients, and five common patterns were identified: strong, moderate, and light westerly (west to east), light easterly, and winter easterly. The strong westerly and winter easterly patterns were the most common summer and winter patterns, respectively, and represented strong gap flow. The light westerly and light easterly patterns occurred most frequently in spring and autumn transition periods. Winter easterly had the highest light scattering and indicated sources east of the gorge mainly responsible for haze. During summer, as westerly winds increased diurnally, a pulse of hazy air from the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area is transported eastward into the gorge, arriving later with distance into the gorge. During light easterly flow impacts to haze from the city of The Dalles, Oregon, are noted as the wind shifts direction diurnally.

On the onset of bora and the formation of rotors and jumps near a mountain gap

AbstractThis study investigates the onset phase of a strong Adriatic bora windstorm that occurred on 4 April 2002. The target area is a gap about 20 km wide embedded in the coastal mountain barrier of the Dinaric Alps that favours strong jet‐like winds. Airborne‐aerosol back‐scatter lidar measurements on board the DLR Falcon research aircraft, together with surface and upper‐air observations, are used to verify high‐resolution numerical experiments conducted with the mesoscale atmospheric model RAMS and a single‐layer shallow‐water model (SWM). Especially during the breakthrough phase of the bora, the flow at the gap exit exhibits a complex spatial structure and temporal evolution. On a transect through the centre of the gap, a hydraulic jump forms; this is located close to the coast throughout the night, and starts to propagate downstream in the early morning. On a transect through the edge of the gap, a lee‐wave‐induced rotor becomes established, due to boundary‐layer separation. It starts to propagate downstream about two hours after the jump. This flow evolution implies that the onset of strong winds at the coast occurs several hours earlier downstream of the centre of the gap than downwind of the edge of the gap. Consequently, the wind field in the vicinity of Rijeka airport, located downwind of the gap, is strongly inhomogeneous and transient, and represents a potential hazard to aviation. Measured bora winds at the surface exceed 20 ms−1, and the simulated wind speed in the gap wind layer exceeds 30 ms−1. The simulated turbulent kinetic energy exceeds 10 m2 s−2.RAMS indicates that wave‐breaking near a critical level is the dominant mechanism for the generation of the windstorm. Gap jets can be identified downstream of several mountain passes. The simulated wave pattern above the Dinaric Alps, the wave decay with height due to directional wind shear and the strong flow descent on the leeward side of the barrier are supported by measured back‐scatter intensities. Basic bora flow features, including gap jets and jumps, are remarkably well reproduced by SWM simulations. The RAMS reference run captures observed flow phenomena and the temporal flow evolution qualitatively well. A cold low‐level bias, an overestimated bora inversion strength, and a slightly too‐early bora onset are probably related to insufficient turbulent mixing in the boundary layer. The amplitude of trapped gravity waves, the time of the bora breakthrough and the inversion strength are found to be quite sensitive to the turbulence parametrization. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society

Midsummer Gap Winds and Low-Level Circulation over the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Abstract The low-level seasonal and intraseasonal wind variability over the northeastern tropical Pacific (NETP), its relationship with other variables, and the connection with large- and middle-scale atmospheric patterns are analyzed using a suite of datasets. Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) wind data show that the low-level circulation over the NETP is mainly affected by the northerly trades, the southerly trades, and the wind jets crossing through the Tehuantepec, Papagayo, and Panama mountain gaps. The seasonal and intraseasonal evolution of these wind systems determines the circulation patterns over the NETP, showing predominant easterly winds in winter and early spring and wind direction reversals in summer over the central region of the NETP. During summer, when southerly trades are the strongest and reach their maximum northward penetration, weak westerlies are observed in June, easterlies in July–August, despite that strong southerlies tend to turn eastward, and again westerlies in September–October. This circulation pattern appears to be related to the Tehuantepec and Papagayo jets, which slightly strengthen during midsummer favored by the westward elongation and intensification of the Azores–Bermuda high (ABH). This ABH evolution induces an across-gap pressure gradient over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec favoring the generation of the jet and a meridional sea level pressure (SLP) gradient in the western Caribbean that favors the funneling of the trade winds through the Papagayo gap. The SLP pattern causing the gap winds in winter is different than in midsummer, being the southeastward intrusion of high pressure systems coming from the northwest, the main cause of the large meridional SLP gradients in Tehuantepec and the western Caribbean. The westward low-level circulation observed over the central-eastern region of the NETP during midsummer induces westward moisture fluxes in the lower layers of the atmosphere, displaces convergence areas away from the coasts, and confines the relatively strong convergence in the easternmost NETP to the south of the area of influence of the wind jets and associated easterlies, contributing to the development of the midsummer drought observed in southern Mexico and Central America.

A Regional Ocean–Atmosphere Model for Eastern Pacific Climate: Toward Reducing Tropical Biases*

AbstractThe tropical Pacific Ocean is a climatically important region, home to El Niño and the Southern Oscillation. The simulation of its climate remains a challenge for global coupled ocean–atmosphere models, which suffer large biases especially in reproducing the observed meridional asymmetry across the equator in sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall. A basin ocean general circulation model is coupled with a full-physics regional atmospheric model to study eastern Pacific climate processes. The regional ocean–atmosphere model (ROAM) reproduces salient features of eastern Pacific climate, including a northward-displaced intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) collocated with a zonal band of high SST, a low-cloud deck in the southeastern tropical Pacific, the equatorial cold tongue, and its annual cycle. The simulated low-cloud deck experiences significant seasonal variations in vertical structure and cloudiness; cloud becomes decoupled and separated from the surface mixed layer by a stable layer in March when the ocean warms up, leading to a reduction in cloudiness. The interaction of low cloud and SST is an important internal feedback for the climatic asymmetry between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In an experiment where the cloud radiative effect is turned off, this climatic asymmetry weakens substantially, with the ITCZ migrating back and forth across the equator following the sun. In another experiment where tropical North Atlantic SST is lowered by 2°C—say, in response to a slow-down of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation as during the Younger Dryas—the equatorial Pacific SST decreases by up to 3°C in January–April but changes much less in other seasons, resulting in a weakened equatorial annual cycle. The relatively high resolution (0.5°) of the ROAM enables it to capture mesoscale features, such as tropical instability waves, Central American gap winds, and a thermocline dome off Costa Rica. The implications for tropical biases and paleoclimate research are discussed.

The Scripps Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Regional (SCOAR) Model, with Applications in the Eastern Pacific Sector

AbstractA regional coupled ocean–atmosphere model is introduced. It is designed to admit the air–sea feedbacks arising in the presence of an oceanic mesoscale eddy field. It consists of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and the Regional Spectral Model (RSM). Large-scale forcing is provided by NCEP/DOE reanalysis fields, which have physics consistent with the RSM. Coupling allows the sea surface temperature (SST) to influence the stability of the atmospheric boundary layer and, hence, the surface wind stress and heat flux fields. The system is denominated the Scripps Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Regional (SCOAR) Model.The model is tested in three scenarios in the eastern Pacific Ocean sector: tropical instability waves of the eastern tropical Pacific, mesoscale eddies and fronts of the California Current System, and gap winds of the Central American coast. Recent observational evidence suggests air–sea interactions involving the oceanic mesoscale in these three regions. Evolving SST fronts are shown to drive an unambiguous response of the atmospheric boundary layer in the coupled model. This results in significant model anomalies of wind stress curl, wind stress divergence, surface heat flux, and precipitation that resemble the observations and substantiate the importance of ocean–atmosphere feedbacks involving the oceanic mesoscale.

Gap Flows through Idealized Topography. Part II: Effects of Rotation and Surface Friction

Abstract Numerical simulations are conducted of geostrophically balanced flow over an isolated mountain cut by a horizontal gap. The relative importance of the along-gap synoptic-scale pressure gradient and terrain-induced mesoscale circulations for the generation of gap winds was examined by changing the direction of the synoptic-scale wind relative to the topography. In all cases, the forcing associated with mesoscale circulations generated by the mountain was at least as significant as the synoptic-scale pressure gradient. In the cases where a component of the large-scale flow was directed perpendicular to the ridge, the dynamics were dominated by either the vertical momentum fluxes due to mountain lee waves or by mesoscale pressure gradients associated with upstream blocking or lee troughing. Mesoscale circulations were also important when the large-scale flow was parallel to the ridge because surface friction turned the low-level winds toward the high pressure side of the ridge, partially blocking the flow and enhancing the along-gap pressure gradient. The flow in the interior of a very long uniform gap was also simulated for a case with the synoptic-scale winds parallel to the ridge so that the synoptic-scale pressure gradient was down the gap. The flow in the interior of the long gap was not horizontal and not in a simple dynamical balance between acceleration, the pressure gradient force, and surface friction. Even the flow in the lowest 150 m was gradually subsiding. Subsidence and lateral momentum flux convergence at low levels near the center of the gap were important contributors to the mass and along-gap momentum budgets.

The circulation of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

During the 1950s and 1960s, an extensive field study and interpretive effort was made by researchers, primarily at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to sample and understand the physical oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific. That work was inspired by the valuable fisheries of the region, the recent discovery of the equatorial undercurrent, and the growing realization of the importance of the El Niño phenomenon. Here we review what was learned in that effort, and integrate those findings with work published since then as well as additional diagnoses based on modern data sets. Unlike the central Pacific, where the winds are nearly zonal and the ocean properties and circulation are nearly independent of longitude, the eastern tropical Pacific is distinguished by wind forcing that is strongly influenced by the topography of the American continent. Its circulation is characterized by short zonal scales, permanent eddies and significant off-equatorial upwelling. Notably, the Costa Rica Dome and a thermocline bowl to its northwest are due to winds blowing through gaps in the Central American cordillera, which imprint their signatures on the ocean through linear Sverdrup dynamics. Strong annual modulation of the gap winds and the meridional oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone generates a Rossby wave, superimposed on the direct forcing, that results in a southwestward-propagating annual thermocline signal accounting for major features of observed thermocline depth variations, including that of the Costa Rica Dome, the Tehuantepec bowl, and the ridge–trough system of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). Interannual variability of sea surface temperature (SST) and altimetric sea surface height signals suggests that the strengthening of the NECC observed in the central Pacific during El Niño events continues all the way to the coast, warming SST (by zonal advection) in a wider meridional band than the equatorially trapped thermocline anomalies, and pumping equatorial water poleward along the coast. The South Equatorial Current originates as a combination of equatorial upwelling, mixing and advection from the NECC, and Peru coastal upwelling, but its sources and their variability remain unresolved. Similarly, while much of the Equatorial Undercurrent flows southeast into the Peru Undercurrent and supplies the coastal upwelling, a quantitative assessment is lacking. We are still unable to put together the eastern interconnections among the long zonal currents of the central Pacific.

Mesoscale dynamics, structure and predictability of a severe Adriatic bora case

The dynamics, structure and temporal evolution of a severe Adriatic bora, which occurred during 14 and 15 November 2004 was inspected. Numerical simulation of the investigated episode was performed by the mesoscale model MM5. The model was validated against the radiosonde data and the wind data from one automatic meteorological station and three ultrasonic anemometers. Two anemometers where located in the region extremely favorable for the bora occurrence (Senj and Vratnik Pass), while the third one was placed in the mainland (Zagreb-Horvatovac). The model reproduced well the onset and the strength of the investigated bora, as well as the establishment of bora-induced potential vorticity (PV) banners. On the other hand, surface turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) was poorly predicted. Inspection of gap wind characteristics indicated the absence of strong dissipation in the flow through a mountain pass, which gives rise to a horizontally elongated jet. Appearance of wave breaking in the lee of a mountain peak leads to the creation of a mountain wake. Shear lines between individual jets and wakes created in this way are then responsible for the generation of PV banners. Also, the ability of the model to predict hourly wind gusts was validated using a recently developed method.

Distinct wind convergence patterns in the Mexico City basin due to the interaction of the gap winds with the synoptic flow

Abstract. Mexico City lies in a high altitude basin where air quality and pollutant fate is strongly influenced by local winds. The combination of high terrain with weak synoptic forcing leads to weak and variable winds with complex circulation patterns. A gap wind entering the basin in the afternoon leads to very different wind convergence lines over the city depending on the meteorological conditions. Surface and upper-air meteorological observations are analysed during the MCMA-2003 field campaign to establish the meteorological conditions and obtain an index of the strength and timing of the gap wind. A mesoscale meteorological model (MM5) is used in combination with high-resolution satellite data for the land surface parameters and soil moisture maps derived from diurnal ground temperature range. A simple method to map the lines of wind convergence both in the basin and on the regional scale is used to show the different convergence patterns according to episode types. The gap wind is found to occur on most days of the campaign and is the result of a temperature gradient across the southern basin rim which is very similar from day to day. Momentum mixing from winds aloft into the surface layer is much more variable and can determine both the strength of the flow and the pattern of the convergence zones. Northerly flows aloft lead to a weak jet with an east-west convergence line that progresses northwards in the late afternoon and early evening. Westerlies aloft lead to both stronger gap flows due to channelling and winds over the southern and western basin rim. This results in a north-south convergence line through the middle of the basin starting in the early afternoon. Improved understanding of basin meteorology will lead to better air quality forecasts for the city and better understanding of the chemical regimes in the urban atmosphere.

Impacts of Central America gap winds on the SST annual cycle in the eastern Pacific warm pool

The annual cycle of sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern Pacific warm pool and its relation to Central America gap winds are examined in this study. Locally enhanced annual harmonics of SST are found underneath the regions where the Tehuantepec and Papagayo gap winds blow. The SSTs underneath the Tehuantepec gap wind undergo larger annual variations than those underneath the Papagayo gap wind. This suggests that the Tehuantepec gap wind has a stronger influence on the annual cycle of SST than the Papagayo gap wind. A series of ocean model experiments are performed to demonstrate the enhancement effect of the gap winds. Further heat budget analyses of the experiments show that the gap winds increase the amplitude of the SST annual cycle primarily by enhancing the vertical entrainment process in the ocean. The thermal forcing effect of the gap winds is less important in modulating the SST annual cycle.

Validation of the Coupled NCEP Mesoscale Spectral Model and an Advanced Land Surface Model over the Hawaiian Islands. Part II: A High Wind Event*

Abstract A high wind event (14–15 February 2001) over the Hawaiian Islands associated with a cold front is simulated using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Mesoscale Spectral Model (MSM) coupled with an advanced land surface model (LSM). During this period, a strong high pressure cell moved to the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands following the passage of the cold front. The cell then merged with the semipermanent subtropical high and resulted in windy conditions across the state of Hawaii. Analyses of soundings from Lihue on Kauai and Hilo on the Big Island reveal a mean-state critical level below 400 hPa, a strong cross-barrier flow (∼13 m s−1), and the presence of a trade wind inversion. The MSM–LSM predicts downslope windstorms on the lee sides of mountains or ridges with tops beneath the trade wind inversion and within ocean channels between islands. In the case of high mountains with a peak height above the trade wind inversion, weak winds are simulated on the lee side. Around the corners of the islands and in gaps between mountains, gap winds and downslope windstorms are both important for the development of localized leeside windstorms. The localized windstorms over the Hawaiian Islands develop as a result of interactions between large-scale airflow and the complex local topography. Since the terrain is not adequately resolved by the 10-km RSM–LSM, it is no surprise that these windstorms are better simulated by the high-resolution nonhydrostatic MSM–LSM than the 10-km RSM–LSM.

Effects of Central American Mountains on the Eastern Pacific Winter ITCZ and Moisture Transport*

Abstract The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is displaced to the south edge of the eastern Pacific warm pool in boreal winter, instead of being collocated. A high-resolution regional climate model is used to investigate the mechanism for this displaced ITCZ. Under the observed sea surface temperature (SST) and lateral boundary forcing, the model reproduces the salient features of eastern Pacific climate in winter, including the southward displaced ITCZ and gap wind jets off the Central American coast. As the northeast trades impinge on the mountains of Central America, subsidence prevails off the Pacific coast, pushing the ITCZ southward. Cold SST patches induced by three gap wind jets have additional effects of keeping the ITCZ away from the coast. In an experiment in which both the Central American mountains and their effect on SST are removed, the ITCZ shifts considerably northward to cover much of the eastern Pacific warm pool. The Central American mountains are considered important to freshwater transport from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which in turn plays a key role in global ocean thermohaline circulation. The results of this study show that this transport across Central America is not very sensitive to the fine structure of the orography because the increased flow in the mountain gaps in a detailed topography run tends to be compensated for by broader flow in a smoothed topography run. Implications for global climate modeling are discussed.

Air–Sea Interaction over the Eastern Pacific Warm Pool: Gap Winds, Thermocline Dome, and Atmospheric Convection*

Abstract High-resolution satellite observations are used to investigate air–sea interaction over the eastern Pacific warm pool. In winter, strong wind jets develop over the Gulfs of Tehuantepec, Papagayo, and Panama, accelerated by the pressure gradients between the Atlantic and Pacific across narrow passes of Central American cordillera. Patches of cold sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and high chlorophyll develop under these wind jets as a result of increased turbulent heat flux from the ocean and enhanced mixing across the base of the ocean mixed layer. Despite a large decrease in SST (exceeding 3°C in seasonal means), the cold patches associated with the Tehuantepec and Papagayo jets do not have an obvious effect on local atmospheric convection in winter since the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is located farther south. The cold patch of the Panama jet to the south, on the other hand, cuts through the winter ITCZ and breaks it into two parts. A pronounced thermocline dome develops west of the Gulf of Papagayo, with the 20°C isotherm only 30 m deep throughout the year. In summer when the Panama jet disappears and the other two wind jets weaken, SST is 0.5°C lower over this Costa Rica Dome than the background. This cold spot reduces local precipitation by half, punching a hole of 500 km in diameter in the summer ITCZ. The dome underlies a patch of open-ocean high chlorophyll. This thermocline dome is an ocean dynamic response to the positive wind curls south of the Papagayo jet, which is optimally oriented to excite ocean Rossby waves that remotely affect the ocean to the west. The meridionally oriented Tehuantepec and Panama jets, by contrast, only influence the local thermocline depth with few remote effects on SST and the atmosphere. The orographical-triggered air–sea interaction described here is a good benchmark for testing high-resolution climate models now under development.

Columbia Gorge Gap Winds: Their Climatological Influence and Synoptic Evolution

Abstract This paper quantifies the impact of the Columbia Gorge on the weather and climate within and downstream of this mesoscale gap and examines the influence of synoptic-scale flow on gorge weather. Easterly winds occur more frequently and are stronger at stations such as Portland International Airport (KPDX) that are close to the western terminus of the gorge than at other lowland stations west of the Cascades. In the cool season, there is a strong correlation between east winds at KPDX and cooler temperatures in the Columbia Basin, within the gorge, and over the northern Willamette River valley. At least 56% of the annual snowfall, 70% of days with snowfall, and 90% of days with freezing rain at KPDX coincide with easterly gorge flow. Synoptic composites were created to identify the large-scale patterns leading to strong winds, snowfall, and freezing rain in the gorge. These composites showed that all gorge gap flow events are associated with a high-amplitude 500-mb ridge upstream of the Pacific Northwest, colder than normal 850-mb temperatures over the study region, and a substantial offshore sea level pressure gradient force between the interior and the northwest coast. However, the synoptic evolution varies for different kinds of gorge weather events. For example, the composite of the 500-mb field for freezing rain events features a split developing in the upstream ridge with zonal flow at midlatitudes, while for easterly gap winds accompanied by snowfall, there is an amplification of the ridge.

Dynamics and mechanism for sea surface cooling near the Indian tip during winter monsoon

Wintertime sea surface temperature (SST) cooling south of the Indian tip (hereafter tip) is investigated during a 14 day gap wind event (21 January to 3 February 1997) using satellite data and the three‐dimensional, primitive equation, sigma coordinate Princeton Ocean Model (POM). The advanced very high resolution radiometer SST reveals surface cooling of 1.5°C over the 14 day period near west of Sri Lanka. A spatial‐mean time series of surface forcing west of Sri Lanka indicate a bell‐shaped pattern, which is characterized by maximum wind stress and outgoing heat flux (sum of turbulent heat flux and net surface long‐wave radiation) of 0.12 N/m2 and 450 W/m2, respectively, on 27 January. POM simulation is performed with realistic bottom topography, with seasonal stratification, and with daily mean surface forcing derived from NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) winds and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) meteorological variables. During 21–28 January, Ekman dynamics together with positive wind stress curl promote SST cooling along the west coast of Sri Lanka. Thereafter irregular and shallow topography near the tip promotes diapycnal mixing, and the characteristic surface circulation significantly influences the evolution of the SST pattern along the periphery of the tip. An anticyclonic circulation evolves in the Gulf of Mannar under the influence of local negative wind stress curl after 27 January. Examination of a zonal section of density and vertical heat diffusion reveals that the initial stratification in the vicinity of the tip weakens because of diapycnal mixing and vertical diffusion of the surface heat. The mixed layer heat budget near the west of Sri Lanka and south of the tip reveals that the surface heat depletion dictates SST changes throughout the event. From our earlier works [Luis and Kawamura, 2000, 2001] and from the results of the present investigation it is inferred that the wintertime SST cooling in the vicinity of the tip is a case of topography‐monsoon‐ocean interaction.

Stratified flow over a mountain with a gap: Linear theory and numerical simulations

AbstractLinear theory and numerical simulations are used to investigate gap flows. Both gaps embedded in a long mountain ridge and gaps located between two isolated mountain peaks are considered. The study mainly focuses on level gaps so as to isolate three‐dimensional effects from two‐dimensional gravity‐wave propagation. Special attention is given to qualitative differences between the linear and the nonlinear flow regimes, the linear regime being defined by the absence of gravity‐wave breaking.In the linear regime, wind and pressure perturbations along a level gap axis are found to be qualitatively similar to those over a mountain ridge or peak, but of lower amplitude and longer horizontal wavelength. They are caused by vertically propagating gravity waves radiating from the mountain ridges (peaks) towards the gap axis and by low‐level confluence within the gap. In the nonlinear regime, however, these two processes are of minor importance due to upstream blocking and low‐level wave breaking. Instead, the pressure difference across the mountain ridge primarily drives the gap flow, which tends to be decoupled from the flow over the adjacent ridge. In contrast to the linear regime, gap winds are as strong as or even stronger than the winds over the mountain ridge. Surface friction is found to reduce the near‐surface wind speed more strongly for mountain ridges than for gaps. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society.

Weather Support for the 2002 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games

Abstract The 2002 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be hosted by Salt Lake City, Utah, during February-March 2002. Adverse weather during this period may delay sporting events, while snow and ice-covered streets and highways may impede access by the athletes and spectators to the venues. While winter snowstorms and other large-scale weather systems typically have widespread impacts throughout northern Utah, hazardous winter weather is often related to local terrain features (the Wasatch Mountains and Great Salt Lake are the most prominent ones). Examples of such hazardous weather include lake-effect snowstorms, ice fog, gap winds, downslope windstorms, and low visibility over mountain passes. A weather support system has been developed to provide weather information to the athletes, games officials, spectators, and the interested public around the world. This system is managed by the Salt Lake Olympic Committee and relies upon meteorologists from the public, private, and academic sectors of the atm...

Thermally Driven Gap Winds into the Mexico City Basin

A southeasterly flow in the form of a low-level jet that enters the Mexico City basin through a mountain gap in the southeast corner of the basin developed consistently in the afternoons or early evenings during a four-week 1997 winter field campaign. Peak wind speeds often exceeded 10 m s−1. Although these winds have not been studied previously, the observations suggest that they are a regular feature of the basin wind system, at least during the winter months. The jets were found more frequently during the early part of the experiment, when conditions in the basin were generally warmer, drier, and less cloudy, than in the later part when conditions were cooler, more humid, and cloudier. The winds usually were stronger during the early period, also. Temperature measurements from radiosondes launched inside and outside the basin showed a dependence of the gap wind strength on the temperature differences between the two regions. A three-dimensional numerical model was used to simulate the characteristics of the gap flows to provide information on the mechanisms responsible for their development. The maximum speed of the jet usually is reached several hours after the occurrence of the maximum temperature gradient between the basin and the region to the south. An analysis of the momentum balance shows that the gap wind is initiated by a north–south pressure gradient across the gap in the lower boundary layer arising from temperature differences between the warmer basin and the cooler exterior air. Penetration of the gap wind into the basin is caused primarily by horizontal advection. The gap wind plays an important role in the formation of a convergence zone, which can have an important effect on surface air pollutant distributions in the basin.

PM10 Levels in the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada: An Overview of Spatiotemporal Variations and Meteorological Controls

ABSTRACT Three years of hourly averaged PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 Lrm in diameter) tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) data from 10 sites in the large coastal valley incorporating Greater Vancouver were used to investigate the spatiotemporal dimensions and air pollution meteorology of particulate pollution. During the period studied, the provincial “acceptable” objective daily concentration of 50 μg m-3 was exceeded at 7 of the 10 sites. The highest annual, seasonal, and maximum hourly concentrations were recorded at Abbotsford in the central valley. Mean seasonal PM10 concentrations were highest in the wintertime in the western Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) and in the summertime at the central and eastern valley locations. Within the network, interstation correlations of daily average concentrations exceed 0.8 at interstation distances less than 20 km and decrease thereafter. For daily maximum concentrations (hourly), interstation correlations decrease sharply with distance. Meteorological conditions responsible for elevated par-ticulate concentrations in the LFV are associated with (1) short periods (1- to 3-hr duration) of reduced dispersion during summer nights at sites close to primary sources, (2) summer anticyclonic conditions when photochemical pollutant concentrations build up across the entire valley, and (3) occasional wintertime “gap wind” events in the eastern valley.