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Tropical Storm Kyle (2002) and cold-air damming: their interactions and impacts on heavy rainfall in the Carolinas

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Abstract

The interactions between an Appalachian cold-air damming event and the near passage of Tropical Storm Kyle (2002) along the coastal Carolinas are assessed by using a numerical weather prediction model. As the storm moved along the coastline, it began extra-tropical transition, bringing heavy rains to both the coastal region and inland towards the Piedmont of North Carolina. Our goal is to quantify the effects of both interacting weather systems on heavy precipitation to improve the dynamical understanding of such effects, as well as precipitation forecasts in the study region. A series of sensitivity tests were performed to isolate and quantify the effects of both systems on the total accumulated precipitation. It was found that (a) for this type of along-coast track, the pre-existing cold-air damming played only a minor role on the total accumulated precipitation, (b) the outer circulation of Kyle weakened the cold-air damming due to a redirection of the mean flow away from the east side of the Appalachian Mountains, and (c) the combination of Kyle with a shortwave mid- to upper-level trough and a surface coastal front were responsible for the heavy precipitation experienced in the study area through the advection of moisture, vorticity, and the forcing of upward motion.

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Abbreviations

ADR:

Appalachian Damming Region

B03:

Bailey et al. (2003)

CAD:

Cold-air damming

CF:

Coastal front

CPC:

Climate Prediction Center

CTL:

Control case

dBZ:

Reflectivity

DC:

District of Columbia

ERA-I:

ERA-Interim global reanalysis dataset

ET:

Extra-tropical transition

FLAT:

No-mountain case

GA:

Georgia

NARR:

North American Regional Reanalysis

NC:

North Carolina

NE:

Northeast

NHC:

National Hurricane Center

NS:

No-storm case

PVA:

Positive vorticity advection

SB09:

Srock and Bosart (2009)

SC:

South Carolina

SE:

Southeast

SLP:

Sea level pressure

SST:

Sea surface temperature

TC:

Tropical Cyclone

TN:

Tennessee

VA:

Virginia

VORTMAX:

Vorticity maximum

WRF-ARW:

Weather Research and Forecast Model – Advanced Research WRF

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Barrett Smith and Jonathan Blaes at the National Weather Service office in Raleigh, NC, for their insights and ideas on the topic presented in this paper. The comments from three anonymous reviewers are highly appreciated, which helped improving the quality of the paper. We are also grateful to Dr. John Hemphill’s review of the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Awards AGS-1265783, HRD-1036563, CNS-1126543, and CNS-1429464.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy and Environmental Systems, North Carolina A&T State University, 302H Gibbs Hall, 1601 E. Market Street, Greensboro, NC, 27411, USA

    Jose M. Garcia-Rivera, Yuh-Lang Lin & Yevgenii Rastigejev

  2. Department of Physics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Yuh-Lang Lin

  3. Department of Mathematics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Yevgenii Rastigejev

  4. I.M. Systems Group, Rockville, MD, USA

    Jose M. Garcia-Rivera

Authors
  1. Jose M. Garcia-Rivera
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  2. Yuh-Lang Lin
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  3. Yevgenii Rastigejev
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Correspondence to Yuh-Lang Lin.

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Responsible Editor: M. Kaplan.

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Garcia-Rivera, J.M., Lin, YL. & Rastigejev, Y. Tropical Storm Kyle (2002) and cold-air damming: their interactions and impacts on heavy rainfall in the Carolinas. Meteorol Atmos Phys 128, 347–372 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-015-0421-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-015-0421-1

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