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Erin Binder and Clemens Grohs Department of Marine and Environmental Systems Florida Tech A Comparative Study of two Thunderstorm events during Field Projects 2009 Slide 2 Introduction Florida Storm Types Sea breeze thunderstorms Frontal passage storms Initialization from an upper level low Embedded storms from a major system like a hurricane et cetera. Slide 3 Summer Field Projects Land Based Meteorology Goal Use temperature and relative humidity stations to Identify the passage of a storm Method Setup a high-spatial and temporal resolution network Slide 4 Objectives: Analyze two events at Deseret Ranch MCS on June 18 Thunderstorms on June 29 Examine the characteristics of the temperature evolution for two events Identify similarities and differences between the two events Slide 5 GOES12 IR of June 18 Slide 6 Jacksonville, Florida Early Morning (8 AM) Sounding Slide 7 Radar Reflectivity at Jacksonville Radar Imagery of Storm Initialization over Jacksonville, Florida June 18, 2009 Slide 8 Melbourne Radar Image at 3:35 PM Slide 9 Deseret Ranch Temperature and Relative Humidity Sensors for June 18, 2009 Slide 10 June 18, 2009 Deseret Ranch Temperature Time Series Slide 11 June 18, 2009 Recap Stations mile apart Upper level trough over Georgia Temperature decrease of 20 degrees in 30 minutes The storm system is classified as a mesoscale convective system (MCS) Slide 12 June 29, 2009 Surface Analysis Slide 13 Slide 14 Deseret Ranch Temperature and Relative Humidity Sensors for June 29, 2009 Slide 15 June 29, 2009 Deseret Ranch Temperature Time Series Daily Average Temperature 80 F Slide 16 June 29,2009 Recap Stations are 1 mile apart Initialized by warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico Thunderstorm moved in from the west coast Temperature decrease of 10 degrees F in 15 minutes at stations 2, 4, and 5 only Slide 17 Summary Surface T & RH network potentially provides a better understanding of T-storm events Similarities Temperature decrease during the storms passage Differences June 18- MCS June 29- Local storm event Slide 18 Questions? Questions Slide 19 Acknowledgments Dr. Sen Chiao Dr. John Windsor Dr. George Maul Dr. Kevin Johnson All the TAs, Samuel, Justin and Kathleen Land based meteorology students University of Wyoming and Plymouth State University mom and dad Next Up: Break and then Stephanie Zoutenbier, Ashley Merritt, and Raymond Lee