Date of Award

1-1-2012

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (xv, 134 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Lance F Bosart

Keywords

Freezing Rain, Ice Storms, Mesoscale Meteorology, Synoptic Meteorology, Synoptic meteorology, Ice storms, Freezing rain, Meteorology

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

Ice storms are among the most hazardous, disruptive, and costly meteorological phenomena in the northeastern United States. The accretion of freezing rain during ice storms endangers human safety, compromises public infrastructure, and causes economic losses on local and regional scales. Furthermore, ice storms present a major operational forecast challenge due to the combined influence of synoptic, mesoscale, and microphysical processes on precipitation type. In consideration of these socioeconomic impacts and forecast issues, we have identified three primary objectives for this thesis: 1) create long-term climatologies of freezing rain and ice storms in the northeastern U.S., 2) identify antecedent environments conducive to ice storms and dynamical mechanisms responsible for freezing rain, and 3) increase situational awareness of the synoptic and mesoscale processes that govern the evolution of ice storms.

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