scholarly journals Assessment of Near 0 °C Temperature and Precipitation Characteristics across Canada

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Mekis ◽  
Ronald E. Stewart ◽  
Julie M. Theriault ◽  
Bohdan Kochtubajda ◽  
Barrie R. Bonsal ◽  
...  

Abstract. The 0 °C temperature threshold is critical to many meteorological and hydrological processes driven by melting and freezing in the atmosphere, surface and sub-surface and by the associated precipitation varying between rain, freezing rain, wet snow and snow. This threshold, linked with freeze-thaw, is especially important in cold regions such as Canada. This study develops a Canada-wide perspective on near 0 °C conditions with a particular focus on the occurrence of its associated precipitation. Since this analysis requires hourly values of surface temperature and precipitation type observations, it was limited to 92 stations over the 1981–2011 period. In addition, nine stations representative of various climatic regions are selected for further analysis. Near 0 °C conditions are defined as periods when the surface temperature is between −2 °C and 2 °C. Near 0 °C conditions occur often across all regions of the country although the annual number of days and hours and the duration of these events varies dramatically. Various forms of precipitation (including rain, freezing rain, wet snow and ice pellets) are sometimes linked with these temperatures with highest fractions tending to occur in Atlantic Canada. Trends of most temperature-based and precipitation-based indicators show little or no change despite a systematic warming in annual temperatures. Over the annual cycle, near 0 °C temperatures and precipitation often exhibit a pattern with short durations near summer driven by the diurnal cycle, while longer durations tend to occur more towards winter associated with storms. There is also a tendency for near 0 °C temperatures to occur more often than expected relative to other temperature windows; due at least in part to diabatic cooling and heating occurring with melting and freezing, respectively, in the atmosphere and at the surface.

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1741-1761
Author(s):  
Eva Mekis ◽  
Ronald E. Stewart ◽  
Julie M. Theriault ◽  
Bohdan Kochtubajda ◽  
Barrie R. Bonsal ◽  
...  

Abstract. The 0 ∘C temperature threshold is critical for many meteorological and hydrological processes driven by melting and freezing in the atmosphere, surface, and sub-surface and by the associated precipitation varying between rain, freezing rain, wet snow, and snow. This threshold is especially important in cold regions such as Canada, because it is linked with freeze–thaw, snowmelt, and permafrost. This study develops a Canada-wide perspective on near-0 ∘C conditions using hourly surface temperature and precipitation type observations from 92 climate stations for the period from 1981 to 2011. In addition, nine stations from various climatic regions are selected for further analysis. Near-0 ∘C conditions are defined as periods when the surface temperature is between −2 and 2 ∘C. Near-0 ∘C conditions occur often across all regions of the country, although the annual number of days and hours and the duration of these events varies dramatically. Various types of precipitation (e.g., rain, freezing rain, wet snow, and ice pellets) sometimes occur with these temperatures. Near-0 ∘C conditions and the reported precipitation type occurrences tend to be higher in Atlantic Canada, although high values also occur in other regions. Trends of most temperature-based and precipitation-based indicators show little or no change despite a systematic warming in annual surface temperatures over Canada. Over the annual cycle, near-0 ∘C temperatures and precipitation often exhibit a pattern: short durations occur around summer, driven by the diurnal cycle, and a tendency toward longer durations around winter, associated with storms. There is also a tendency for near-0 ∘C surface temperatures to occur more often than expected relative to other temperature windows at some stations due, at least in part, to diabatic cooling and heating that take place with melting and freezing, respectively, in the atmosphere and at the surface.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1492-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Thériault ◽  
Ronald E. Stewart

Abstract Several types of precipitation, such as freezing rain, ice pellets, and wet snow, are commonly observed during winter storms. The objective of this study is to better understand the formation of these winter precipitation types. To address this issue, detailed melting and refreezing of precipitation was added onto an existing bulk microphysics scheme. These modifications allow the formation of mixed-phase particles and these particles in turn lead to, or affect, the formation of many of the other types of precipitation. The precipitation type characteristics, such as the mass content, liquid fraction, and threshold diameters formed during a storm over St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, are studied and compared with observations. Many of these features were reproduced by the model. Sensitivity experiments with the model were carried out to examine the dependence of precipitation characteristics in this event on thresholds of particle evolution in the new parameterization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Stewart ◽  
Julie M. Thériault ◽  
William Henson

Abstract This article examines the types of winter precipitation that occur near 0°C, specifically rain, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, ice pellets, snow pellets, and wet snow. It follows from a call by M. Ralph et al. for more attention to be paid to this precipitation since it represents one of the most serious wintertime quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF) issues. The formation of the many precipitation types involves ice-phase and/or liquid-phase processes, and thresholds in the degree of melting and/or freezing often dictate the types occurring at the surface. Some types can occur simultaneously so that, for example, ensuing collisions between supercooled raindrops and ice pellets that form ice pellet aggregates can lead to substantial reductions in the occurrence of freezing rain at the surface, and ice crystal multiplication processes can lead to locally produced ice crystals in the subfreezing layer below inversions. Highly variable fall velocities within the background temperature and wind fields of precipitation-type transition regions lead to varying particle trajectories and significant alterations in the distribution of precipitation amount and type at the surface. Physically based predictions that account for at least some of the phase changes and particle interactions are now in operation. Outstanding issues to be addressed include the impacts of accretion on precipitation-type formation, quantification of melting and freezing rates of the highly variable precipitation, the consequences of collisions between the various types, and the onset of ice nucleation and its effects. The precipitation physics perspective of this article furthermore needs to be integrated into a comprehensive understanding involving the surrounding and interacting environment.


1993 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 107-112
Author(s):  
Tatsuhito Ito ◽  
Masaru Yamaoka ◽  
Hisayuki Ohura ◽  
Takashi Taniguchi ◽  
Gorow Wakahama

In Hokkaido we have often experienced hazardous accidents, such as tower collapses and conductor breakage, caused by wet-snow accretion on transmission lines, and over many years have developed countermeasures for wet-snow accretion. Recently we have been developing a system to forecast areas where snow accretion may occur. We used the southern part of Hokkaido, divided into 5 km × 5 km meshes, as a forecast area; our predictions were hourly, 3–24 hours in advance. A method of predicting meteorological data which forms an important part of the system predicts three elements which influence wet-snow accretion: air temperature, precipitation, and wind direction and speed. We used an interpolation for predicting temperature and precipitation and a one-level, mesoscale model for diagnosing surface winds for wind direction and speed. By applying the method to many examples of wet-snow accretion, we checked the prediction of weather elements.


2018 ◽  
Vol 229 ◽  
pp. 02017
Author(s):  
Aulia N. Khoir ◽  
R. Mamlu’atur ◽  
Agus Safril ◽  
Akhmad Fadholi

Climate change due to an increase in greenhouse gas concentrations has led to changes in extreme climate events. IPCC 2007 already predicted that average global temperatures would reach 0.74⁰ C in the last 100 years (1906-2005). A study on the temperature index trends and extreme precipitation in the period of 1986-2014 in Jakarta are represented by 5 weather stations. Daily of maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and precipitation data are calculated using RClimDex Software so that temperature and rainfall index data are obtained. The indexes are extreme climate indexes defined by ETCCDMI (Expert Team for Climate Change Detection Monitoring and Indices). The indexes consist of TN10p, TN90p, TX10p, TX90p, TNn, TNx, TXn, TXx, DTR, RX1day, RX5day, RCPTOT, CDD, CWD, and R95p. The purpose of this research is to know the change of temperature and precipitation characteristics from observation result in Jakarta by using index calculation. The results show that Jakarta has number of hot days according to the trends which are generally increasing. It can cause the temperature in Jakarta to get hotter. However, for the rainfall, the upward or downward trend is not significant, so it can be said there is no change in precipitation in Jakarta during 1986-2014.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1568 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisheng Shao ◽  
Sun Woo Park ◽  
Y. Richard Kim

Surface deflection measurements and backcalculation of layer moduli in flexible pavements are significantly affected by the temperature of the asphalt concrete (AC) layer. Correction of deflections or backcalculated moduli to a reference temperature requires determination of an effective temperature of the AC layer. For routine deflection testing and analysis in state highway agencies, it is preferable, from a practical point of view, to use a nondestructive prediction method for determining the effective AC layer temperature instead of measuring the temperature directly from a small hole drilled into the AC layer. A simplified procedure to predict asphalt pavement subsurface temperatures is presented. The procedure is based on fundamental principles of heat transfer and uses the surface temperature history since yesterday morning to predict the AC layer mid-depth temperature at the time of falling weight deflectometer (FWD) testing today. The surface temperature history is determined using yesterday’s maximum air temperature and cloud condition, the minimum air temperature of today’s morning, and surface temperatures measured during FWD tests. FWD tests and temperature measurements have been conducted on seven pavement sections with varying structural designs located in three different climatic regions of North Carolina. The field temperature records from these pavements have provided values of pavement thermal parameters and coefficients in temperature functions that are needed in the prediction procedure. A set of verification results are presented using examples with different climatic regions, changing AC layer thicknesses, and varying weather patterns in different seasons.


2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 1118-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Wanqiu Wang

Abstract The focus of this investigation is how the relationship at intraseasonal time scales between sea surface temperature and precipitation (SST–P) varies among different reanalyses. The motivation for this work was spurred by a recent report that documented that the SST–P relationship in Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) was much closer to that in the observation than it was for the older generation of reanalyses [i.e., NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (R1) and NCEP–Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis (R2)]. Further, the reason was attributed either to the fact that the CFSR is a partially coupled reanalysis, while R1 and R2 are atmospheric-alone reanalyses, or that R1 and R2 use the observed weekly-averaged SST. The authors repeated the comparison of the SST–P relationship among R1, R2, and CFSR, as well as two recent generations of atmosphere-alone reanalyses, the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and the ECMWF Re-Analysis Interim (ERA-Interim). The results clearly demonstrate that the differences in the SST–P relationship at intraseasonal time scales across different reanalyses are not due to whether the reanalysis system is coupled or atmosphere alone, but are due to the specification of different SSTs. The SST–P relationship in different reanalyses, when computed against a single SST for the benchmark, demonstrates a relationship that is common across all of the reanalyses and observations.


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