scholarly journals Point-Biserial Correlation-Based Skill Scores for Probabilistic Forecasts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nachiketa Acharya ◽  
Michael K. Tippett
Keyword(s):  
Point Biserial Correlation ◽  
Biserial Correlation ◽  
Skill Scores ◽  
Probabilistic Forecasts

Influence of the Madden–Julian Oscillation on Forecasts of Extreme Precipitation in the Contiguous United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Jones ◽  
Jon Gottschalck ◽  
Leila M. V. Carvalho ◽  
Wayne Higgins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Madden Julian Oscillation ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Skill Scores ◽  
Probabilistic Forecasts ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract Extreme precipitation events are among the most devastating weather phenomena since they are frequently accompanied by loss of life and property. This study uses reforecasts of the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS.v1) to evaluate the skill of nonprobabilistic and probabilistic forecasts of extreme precipitation in the contiguous United States (CONUS) during boreal winter for lead times up to two weeks. The CFS model realistically simulates the spatial patterns of extreme precipitation events over the CONUS, although the magnitudes of the extremes in the model are much larger than in the observations. Heidke skill scores (HSS) for forecasts of extreme precipitation at the 75th and 90th percentiles showed that the CFS model has good skill at week 1 and modest skill at week 2. Forecast skill is usually higher when the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is active and has enhanced convection occurring over the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and/or the western Indian Ocean than in quiescent periods. HSS greater than 0.1 extends to lead times of up to two weeks in these situations. Approximately 10%–30% of the CONUS has HSS greater than 0.1 at lead times of 1–14 days when the MJO is active. Probabilistic forecasts for extreme precipitation events at the 75th percentile show improvements over climatology of 0%–40% at 1-day lead and 0%–5% at 7-day leads. The CFS has better skill in forecasting severe extremes (i.e., events exceeding the 90th percentile) at longer leads than moderate extremes (75th percentile). Improvements over climatology between 10% and 30% at leads of 3 days are observed over several areas across the CONUS—especially in California and in the Midwest.

scholarly journals Statistical Postprocessing of Ensemble Precipitation Forecasts by Fitting Censored, Shifted Gamma Distributions*

2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (11) ◽  
pp. 4578-4596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Scheuerer ◽  
Thomas M. Hamill
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Training Dataset ◽  
Ensemble Forecasts ◽  
Gamma Distributions ◽  
Predictive Probability ◽  
Skill Scores ◽  
Probabilistic Forecasts ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Set Up

Abstract A parametric statistical postprocessing method is presented that transforms raw (and frequently biased) ensemble forecasts from the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) into reliable predictive probability distributions for precipitation accumulations. Exploratory analysis based on 12 years of reforecast data and ⅛° climatology-calibrated precipitation analyses shows that censored, shifted gamma distributions can well approximate the conditional distribution of observed precipitation accumulations given the ensemble forecasts. A nonhomogeneous regression model is set up to link the parameters of this distribution to ensemble statistics that summarize the mean and spread of predicted precipitation amounts within a certain neighborhood of the location of interest, and in addition the predicted mean of precipitable water. The proposed method is demonstrated with precipitation reforecasts over the conterminous United States using common metrics such as Brier skill scores and reliability diagrams. It yields probabilistic forecasts that are reliable, highly skillful, and sharper than the previously demonstrated analog procedure. In situations with limited predictability, increasing the size of the neighborhood within which ensemble forecasts are considered as predictors can further improve forecast skill. It is found, however, that even a parametric postprocessing approach crucially relies on the availability of a sufficiently large training dataset.

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