Impact of WSR-88D Intra-Volume Low-Level Scans on Severe Weather Warning Performance
Name
[15200434 - Weather and Forecasting] Impact of WSR-88D Intra-Volume Low-Level Scans on Severe Weather Warning Performance.pdf
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5.11 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Cho, John Y. N.
Kurdzo, James M.
Bennett, Betty J.
Weber, Mark E.
Dellicarpini, Joseph W.
Loconto, Andrew
Frank, Hayden
Date Issued
July 2022
Journal
Weather and Forecasting
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Cho, J. Y. N., J. M. Kurdzo, B. J. Bennett, M. E. Weber, J. W. Dellicarpini, A. Loconto, and H. Frank, 2022: Impact of WSR-88D Intra-Volume Low-Level Scans on Severe Weather Warning Performance. Wea. Forecasting, 37, 1169–1189.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The statistical relationship between supplemental adaptive intra-volume low-level scan (SAILS) usage on the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler and National Weather Service severe storm warning performance during 2014–20 is analyzed. Results show statistically significant improvement in severe thunderstorm (SVR), flash flood (FF), and tornado (TOR) warning performance associated with SAILS-on versus SAILS-off. Within the three possible SAILS modes of one (SAILSx1), two (SAILSx2), and three (SAILSx3) additional base scans per volume, for SVR, SAILSx2 and SAILSx3 are associated with better warning performance compared to SAILSx1; for FF and TOR, SAILSx3 is associated with better warning performance relative to SAILSx1 and SAILSx2. Two severe storm cases (one that spawned a tornado, one that did not) are presented where SAILS usage helped forecasters make the correct TOR warning decision, lending real-life credence to the statistical results. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of automated volume scan evaluation and termination effects, parsed by SAILS usage and mode, yield a statistically significant association between volume scan update rate and SVR warning lead time.
Subjects
Atmospheric Science
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/waf-d-21-0152.1
