SYNOPTIC PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH NORTHEAST AND South east ice Storms
type: CreativeWork
description: Wintertime storms that produce precipitation events such as snow, freezing rain, and ice pellets cause significant damage to utility services and disrupt travel. These synoptic systems involve deep isothermal regions where warm, moist air over-runs surface sub-freezing air. Much attention has been focused on Northeast ice storms, where a study by Cortinas et al. (2004) identified the Northeast as the region with the highest spatial distribution of freezing rain and ice pellets. Castellano (2012) also identified 2 types events where ice storms occur in the Northeast as a result of cold-air intrusions from Canada and from an absence of cold air. However, little else is known about the synoptic evolution of the storms. Therefore this study analyzes the dynamic and thermodynamic conditions of ice events along the east coast. The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Storm Events Database is used to pull the dates of ice storms from the Northeast and Southeast climate regions for 1996-2013. The spatial coverage of each ice storm is computed from county size data. A separation technique is then used to isolate larger storms from smaller storms. In addition, a grouping method is applied to objectively identify cyclone tracks. Next, we analyze the synoptic control of ice storms from both regions in an effort to identify difference between Northeast and Southeast cases. For the ice storms gathered from the Storm Events Database, composites are generated for sea level pressure, 2-meter temperatures, 2-meter temperature anomalies, and 850-500 hPa dθ/dz from reanalysis data. Separately, MODIS retrievals of optical thickness, cloud-top pressure and temperature are analyzed to understand the cloud characteristics of the ice storms. A comparison of the composites for the Southeast and Northeast storms suggests that the size differences relate in part to the synoptic structure, where 3 Northeast storms typically occur as a result of warm frontal features or the occlusion phase of a …
abstract: Wintertime storms that produce precipitation events such as snow, freezing rain, and ice pellets cause significant damage to utility services and disrupt travel. These synoptic systems involve deep isothermal regions where warm, moist air over-runs surface sub-freezing air. Much attention has been focused on Northeast ice storms, where a study by Cortinas et al. (2004) identified the Northeast as the region with the highest spatial distribution of freezing rain and ice pellets. Castellano (2012) also identified 2 types events where ice storms occur in the Northeast as a result of cold-air intrusions from Canada and from an absence of cold air. However, little else is known about the synoptic evolution of the storms. Therefore this study analyzes the dynamic and thermodynamic conditions of ice events along the east coast. The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Storm Events Database is used to pull the dates of ice storms from the Northeast and Southeast climate regions for 1996-2013. The spatial coverage of each ice storm is computed from county size data. A separation technique is then used to isolate larger storms from smaller storms. In addition, a grouping method is applied to objectively identify cyclone tracks. Next, we analyze the synoptic control of ice storms from both regions in an effort to identify difference between Northeast and Southeast cases. For the ice storms gathered from the Storm Events Database, composites are generated for sea level pressure, 2-meter temperatures, 2-meter temperature anomalies, and 850-500 hPa dθ/dz from reanalysis data. Separately, MODIS retrievals of optical thickness, cloud-top pressure and temperature are analyzed to understand the cloud characteristics of the ice storms. A comparison of the composites for the Southeast and Northeast storms suggests that the size differences relate in part to the synoptic structure, where 3 Northeast storms typically occur as a result of warm frontal features or the occlusion phase of a …
author: Vargas, Ricardo
keywords: Ice storms, synoptic patterns, East coast, Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences
date published: 2015-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:56:59Z
provider: City University of New York - City College
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: City University of New York - City College