Identifying Weather Regimes in the Wintertime 500-hPa Geopotential Height Field for the Pacific–North American Sector Using a Limited-Contour Clustering Technique

A hierarchical clustering algorithm using Ward’s method has been applied to the 500-hPa geopotential height field in the Pacific–North American sector. In contrast to previous clustering studies that measure distance between records by using all the grid points within the domain (full-field method), the procedure outlined here, referred to as the limited-contour method, focuses on the coordinates of the 540-dam contour as the distance measure. Comparison between the regimes emerging from the two methods shows that the limited-contour method is more efficient than the full-field method with respect to grouping maps with ridges located at similar longitudes. The four regimes emerging from the limited-contour clustering analysis have been named as follows: Off-Shore Trough, Alaskan Ridge, Coastal Ridge, and Rockies Ridge. The frequencies of occurrence of the regimes have a significant relationship with the phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. El Niño winters exhibit a strong preference for the Rockies Ridge pattern; La Niña winters exhibit a greater diversity of regimes. The frequencies of occurrence of extreme cold outbreaks and episodes of heavy precipitation in the Pacific Northwest show a relatively strong connection to the regime type. For other regions in the western portion of the United States, only the frequency of occurrence of cold outbreaks exhibits a significant relationship to regime type.