scholarly journals Contributions of Lake-Effect Periods to the Cool-Season Hydroclimate of the Great Salt Lake Basin

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen N. Yeager ◽  
W. James Steenburgh ◽  
Trevor I. Alcott
Keyword(s):  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Hypersaline Lake ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Lake Effect ◽  
Precipitation Estimates ◽  
Radar Imagery ◽  
Precipitation Gauge

AbstractAlthough smaller lakes are known to produce lake-effect precipitation, their influence on the precipitation climatology of lake-effect regions remains poorly documented. This study examines the contribution of lake-effect periods (LEPs) to the 1998–2009 cool-season (16 September–15 May) hydroclimate in the region surrounding the Great Salt Lake, a meso-β-scale hypersaline lake in northern Utah. LEPs are identified subjectively from radar imagery, with precipitation (snow water equivalent) quantified through the disaggregation of daily (i.e., 24 h) Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) and Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) observations using radar-derived precipitation estimates. An evaluation at valley and mountain stations with reliable hourly precipitation gauge observations demonstrates that the disaggregation method works well for estimating precipitation during LEPs. During the study period, LEPs account for up to 8.4% of the total cool-season precipitation in the Great Salt Lake basin, with the largest contribution to the south and east of the Great Salt Lake. The mean monthly distribution of LEP precipitation is bimodal, with a primary maximum from October to November and a secondary maximum from March to April. LEP precipitation is highly variable between cool seasons and is strongly influenced by a small number of intense events. For example, at a lowland (mountain) station in the lake-effect-precipitation belt southeast of the Great Salt Lake, just 12 (13) events produce 50% of the LEP precipitation. Although these results suggest that LEPs contribute modestly to the hydroclimate of the Great Salt Lake basin, infrequent but intense events have a profound impact during some cool seasons.

scholarly journals Impact of Microphysics Parameterizations on Simulations of the 27 October 2010 Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. McMillen ◽  
W. James Steenburgh
Keyword(s):  
Salt Lake ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Lake Effect ◽  
Simulated Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Estimates ◽  
Double Moment ◽  
Microphysical Processes

Abstract Simulations of moist convection at cloud-permitting grid spacings are sensitive to the parameterization of microphysical processes, posing a challenge for operational weather prediction. Here, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to examine the sensitivity of simulations of the Great Salt Lake–effect snowstorm of 27 October 2010 to the choice of microphysics parameterization (MP). It is found that the simulated precipitation from four MP schemes varies in areal coverage, amount, and position. The Thompson scheme (THOM) verifies best against radar-derived precipitation estimates and gauge observations. The Goddard, Morrison, and WRF double-moment 6-class microphysics schemes (WDM6) produce more precipitation than THOM, with WDM6 producing the largest overprediction relative to radar-derived precipitation estimates and gauge observations. Analyses of hydrometeor mass tendencies show that WDM6 creates more graupel, less snow, and more total precipitation than the other schemes. These results indicate that the rate of graupel and snow production can strongly influence the precipitation efficiency in simulations of lake-effect storms, but further work is needed to evaluate MP-scheme accuracy across a wider range of events, including the use of aircraft- and ground-based hydrometeor sampling to validate MP hydrometeor categorization.

scholarly journals Orographic Influences on a Great Salt Lake–Effect Snowstorm

2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
pp. 2432-2450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor I. Alcott ◽  
W. James Steenburgh
Keyword(s):  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Salt Lake Valley ◽  
Wasatch Mountains ◽  
Lake Effect ◽  
Thermally Driven ◽  
Precipitation Band ◽  
Northern Utah ◽  
Snow Water

Abstract Although several mountain ranges surround the Great Salt Lake (GSL) of northern Utah, the extent to which orography modifies GSL-effect precipitation remains largely unknown. Here the authors use observational and numerical modeling approaches to examine the influence of orography on the GSL-effect snowstorm of 27 October 2010, which generated 6–10 mm of precipitation (snow-water equivalent) in the Salt Lake Valley and up to 30 cm of snow in the Wasatch Mountains. The authors find that the primary orographic influences on the event are 1) foehnlike flow over the upstream orography that warms and dries the incipient low-level air mass and reduces precipitation coverage and intensity; 2) orographically forced convergence that extends downstream from the upstream orography, is enhanced by blocking windward of the Promontory Mountains, and affects the structure and evolution of the lake-effect precipitation band; and 3) blocking by the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains, which funnels the flow into the Salt Lake Valley, reinforces the thermally driven convergence generated by the GSL, and strongly enhances precipitation. The latter represents a synergistic interaction between lake and downstream orographic processes that is crucial for precipitation development, with a dramatic decrease in precipitation intensity and coverage evident in simulations in which either the lake or the orography are removed. These results help elucidate the spectrum of lake–orographic processes that contribute to lake-effect events and may be broadly applicable to other regions where lake effect precipitation occurs in proximity to complex terrain.

scholarly journals Great Salt Lake–Effect Precipitation: Observed Frequency, Characteristics, and Associated Environmental Factors

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 954-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor I. Alcott ◽  
W. James Steenburgh ◽  
Neil F. Laird
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Temperature Difference ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Lake Effect ◽  
The Difference

Abstract This climatology examines the environmental factors controlling the frequency, occurrence, and morphology of Great Salt Lake–effect (GSLE) precipitation events using cool season (16 September–15 May) Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) imagery, radiosonde soundings, and MesoWest surface observations from 1997/98 to 2009/10. During this period, the frequency of GSLE events features considerable interannual variability that is more strongly correlated to large-scale circulation changes than lake-area variations. Events are most frequent in fall and spring, with a minimum in January when the climatological lake surface temperature is lowest. Although forecasters commonly use a 16°C lake–700-hPa temperature difference (ΔT) as a threshold for GSLE occurrence, GSLE was found to occur in winter when ΔT was only 12.4°C. Conversely, GSLE is associated with much higher values of ΔT in the fall and spring. Therefore, a seasonally varying threshold based on a quadratic fit to the monthly minimum ΔT values during GSLE events is more appropriate than a single threshold value. A probabilistic forecast method based on the difference between ΔT and this seasonally varying threshold, 850–700-hPa relative humidity, and 700-hPa wind direction offers substantial improvement over existing methods, although forecast skill is diminished by temperature and moisture errors in operational models. An important consideration for forecasting because of their higher precipitation rates, banded features—with a horizontal aspect ratio of 6:1 or greater—dominate only 20% of the time that GSLE is occurring, while widespread, nonbanded precipitation is much more common. Banded periods are associated with stronger low-level winds and a larger lake–land temperature difference.

Climate and Diet in Fremont Prehistory: Economic Variability and Abandonment of Maize Agriculture in the Great Salt Lake Basin

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Brenner Coltrain ◽  
Steven W. Leavitt
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Temporal Correlation ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Maize Agriculture ◽  
Economic Diversity ◽  
Economic Strategies

Research reported here is based on the stable isotope (δ 13C,δ 15N) and radiocarbon chemistry of Fremont burials from wetlands lining the eastern shores of the Great Salt Lake (GSL). Bone collagen stable isotope signatures covary with reliance on maize and intake of animal protein, facilitating useful reconstructions of past diet. Among the GSL Fremont, economic strategies vary over time with an initial increase in reliance on maize (A.D. 400–850) followed by a period of marked economic diversity (A.D 850–1150) then a return to reliance on wild foods (after A.D. 1150). During the period of greatest economic diversity, male and female diets vary significantly and male diets are correlated with status differences evidenced by grave goods. There is also a clear temporal correlation between the rapid abandonment of maize agriculture and significant moisture anomalies in regional tree-ring chronologies and pollen profiles. These results are discussed in the context of recent arguments regarding economic diversity, social complexity, and the demise of the Fremont.

scholarly journals Climatology of Lake-Effect Snowstorms of the Great Salt Lake

2000 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. James Steenburgh ◽  
Scott F. Halvorson ◽  
Daryl J. Onton
Keyword(s):  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Lake Effect

Early Holocene Great Salt Lake, USA

2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles G. Oviatt ◽  
David B. Madsen ◽  
David M. Miller ◽  
Robert S. Thompson ◽  
John P. McGeehin
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Basin Floor ◽  
Lake Floor ◽  
Sulfate Salts ◽  
Brine Shrimp Cysts ◽  
Surficial Deposits ◽  
Apparent Conflict

Shorelines and surficial deposits (including buried forest-floor mats and organic-rich wetland sediments) show that Great Salt Lake did not rise higher than modern lake levels during the earliest Holocene (11.5–10.2 cal ka BP; 10–9 14C ka BP). During that period, finely laminated, organic-rich muds (sapropel) containing brine-shrimp cysts and pellets and interbedded sodium-sulfate salts were deposited on the lake floor. Sapropel deposition was probably caused by stratification of the water column — a freshwater cap possibly was formed by groundwater, which had been stored in upland aquifers during the immediately preceding late-Pleistocene deep-lake cycle (Lake Bonneville), and was actively discharging on the basin floor. A climate characterized by low precipitation and runoff, combined with local areas of groundwater discharge in piedmont settings, could explain the apparent conflict between evidence for a shallow lake (a dry climate) and previously published interpretations for a moist climate in the Great Salt Lake basin of the eastern Great Basin.

Utah's Great Salt Lake a classic Lake Effect Snowstorm

Weatherwise ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 309-311
Author(s):  
David M. Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Salt Lake ◽  
Great Salt Lake ◽  
Lake Effect
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