The Sensitivity of Downstream Ridge Building Forecasts to Upstream Warm Conveyor Belt Forecast Uncertainty Using MPAS

One potential way to improve the skill of medium-range weather forecasts is to improve the evolution of Rossby waves, which largely modulate extratropical weather. Recent research has hypothesized that the predictability of downstream Rossby waves may be limited by forecast uncertainty linked to upstream diabatic processes such as latent heat release within the warm conveyor belt (WCB) of extratropical cyclones. This hypothesis is evaluated using Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) ensemble forecasts for two events characterized by highly amplified flow over the North Atlantic associated with cyclogenesis. The source of variability in ridge forecasts is diagnosed using the ensemble-sensitivity technique and a potential vorticity (PV) tendency budget, which quantifies the contribution from individual physical processes toward subsequent ridge amplification. Before the onset of ridge amplitude differences for both events, ensemble forecasts with a more amplified ridge are associated with greater negative PV advection by the irrotational wind. The importance of PV advection by the irrotational wind suggests that PV changes are modulated by diabatic heating, which is confirmed by the sensitivity of ridge amplitude to earlier diabatic heating and lower-tropospheric moisture within an upstream WCB. After the onset of ridge amplitude differences, PV advection by the nondivergent wind becomes the primary driver of downstream forecast differences. Initial condition perturbations within the sensitive areas of the WCB confirm that increasing the initial lower-tropospheric moisture results in a more amplified ridge. This suggests that more accurate initial conditions near the WCB could lead to better downstream forecasts.

Automated summary

Improving the evolution of Rossby waves can enhance the skill of medium-range weather forecasts. The predictability of downstream Rossby waves may be limited by forecast uncertainty related to diabatic processes such as latent heat release. Increasing the accuracy of initial conditions and simulating upstream diabatic processes can improve downstream forecast accuracy.