Associations of Jet Streams with Tornado Outbreaks in the North America
Affiliation(s)
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA.
ABSTRACT
Jet streams, a current of fast winds located about seven miles up near the tropopause, are major weather driving factors in the mid-latitudes. Using the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis data resources for the period 1979 to 1988, we defined the latitudinal distribution of daily wind maxima by month, and analyzed latitudinal distribution of the highest daily wind speed at the selected longitude in the 19th week of the year. We showed the typical diving pattern of jet stream over Central America in spring. We found that latitudinal distribution of daily wind maxima was concurrently oscillated with latitudinal distribution of tornado outbreaks in April, May and June. KZ filter smoothed latitudinal distribution of highest daily wind speed on tornado days showed a substantial increase in number of daily wind maxima over tornado alley region, compared to that on non-tornado-days.
Jet streams, a current of fast winds located about seven miles up near the tropopause, are major weather driving factors in the mid-latitudes. Using the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis data resources for the period 1979 to 1988, we defined the latitudinal distribution of daily wind maxima by month, and analyzed latitudinal distribution of the highest daily wind speed at the selected longitude in the 19th week of the year. We showed the typical diving pattern of jet stream over Central America in spring. We found that latitudinal distribution of daily wind maxima was concurrently oscillated with latitudinal distribution of tornado outbreaks in April, May and June. KZ filter smoothed latitudinal distribution of highest daily wind speed on tornado days showed a substantial increase in number of daily wind maxima over tornado alley region, compared to that on non-tornado-days.
Cite this paper
Zurbenko, I. and Sun, M. (2015) Associations of Jet Streams with Tornado Outbreaks in the North America. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 5, 336-344. doi: 10.4236/acs.2015.53026.
Zurbenko, I. and Sun, M. (2015) Associations of Jet Streams with Tornado Outbreaks in the North America. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 5, 336-344. doi: 10.4236/acs.2015.53026.
References
[1] Zurbenko, I.G. and Luo, M. (2015) Surface Humidity Changes in Different Temporal Scales. American Journal of Climate Change, 4, 226-238. [2] Zurbenko, I.G. and Potrzeba, A.L. (2013) Tides in the Atmosphere. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 6, 39-46.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-011-0143-6 [3] National Weather Service. JetStream-Online School for Weather.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/tstorms/tornado.htm [4] Premium Weather. The Jet Stream-Upper Air Flow and Severe Weather.
http://www.tornadochaser.net/jet.html [5] AccuWeather (2011) 150-mph Jet Stream a Key Factor in Wednesday’s Tornado Outbreak.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/150mph-jet-a-key-factor-in-wed/48985 [6] Livescience (2011) Deadly Tornadoes, Floods Blamed on “Superjet” Stream.
http://www.livescience.com/30952-alabama-tornadoes-tennessee-floods-superjet-stream.html [7] Zurbenko, I.G. and Sun, M.Z. (2014) High Risk Periods in Tornado Outbreaks in Central USA. Advance in Research, 2, 426-440.
http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/AIR/2014/10247 [8] Archer, C.L. and Caldiera, K. (2008) Historical Trends in the Jet Streams. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, Article ID: L08803. [9] Koch, P., Weirnli, H. and Davies, H.C. (2006) An Event-Based Jet-Stream Climatology and Typology. International Journal of Climatology, 26, 283-301.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1255 [10] WIKIPEDIA. Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Filter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov%E2%80%93Zurbenko_filter# [11] DiRienzo, G., Zurbenko, I. and Carpenter, D. (1998) Time Series Analysis of Aplysia Total Motion Activity. Biometrics, 54, 493-508.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3109758 [12] Yang, W. and Zurbenko I. (2010) Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Filters. Wiley Interdisciplinary Revives in Computational Statistics, Wiley, WIREs in Computational Statistics, 2, 340-351.
http://wires.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WiresArticle/wisId-WICS71.html
[1] Zurbenko, I.G. and Luo, M. (2015) Surface Humidity Changes in Different Temporal Scales. American Journal of Climate Change, 4, 226-238. [2] Zurbenko, I.G. and Potrzeba, A.L. (2013) Tides in the Atmosphere. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 6, 39-46.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11869-011-0143-6 [3] National Weather Service. JetStream-Online School for Weather.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/tstorms/tornado.htm [4] Premium Weather. The Jet Stream-Upper Air Flow and Severe Weather.
http://www.tornadochaser.net/jet.html [5] AccuWeather (2011) 150-mph Jet Stream a Key Factor in Wednesday’s Tornado Outbreak.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/150mph-jet-a-key-factor-in-wed/48985 [6] Livescience (2011) Deadly Tornadoes, Floods Blamed on “Superjet” Stream.
http://www.livescience.com/30952-alabama-tornadoes-tennessee-floods-superjet-stream.html [7] Zurbenko, I.G. and Sun, M.Z. (2014) High Risk Periods in Tornado Outbreaks in Central USA. Advance in Research, 2, 426-440.
http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/AIR/2014/10247 [8] Archer, C.L. and Caldiera, K. (2008) Historical Trends in the Jet Streams. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, Article ID: L08803. [9] Koch, P., Weirnli, H. and Davies, H.C. (2006) An Event-Based Jet-Stream Climatology and Typology. International Journal of Climatology, 26, 283-301.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1255 [10] WIKIPEDIA. Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Filter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov%E2%80%93Zurbenko_filter# [11] DiRienzo, G., Zurbenko, I. and Carpenter, D. (1998) Time Series Analysis of Aplysia Total Motion Activity. Biometrics, 54, 493-508.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3109758 [12] Yang, W. and Zurbenko I. (2010) Kolmogorov-Zurbenko Filters. Wiley Interdisciplinary Revives in Computational Statistics, Wiley, WIREs in Computational Statistics, 2, 340-351.
http://wires.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WiresArticle/wisId-WICS71.html