Lance Bosart, Mountain Meteorologist: Contributions to our Understanding of the Influence of Complex Terrain on Weather and Climate

Befitting his broad interests, the contributions of Lance Bosart to our understanding of mountain weather and climate span from the mesoscale to planetary scale and cover all seven continents.  A review of Lance’s publications reveals original and significant contributions in the areas of cold-air damming, coastal fronts and frontogenesis, orographically trapped cold surges, orographic influences on severe convective storms, orographic influences on precipitation, orographically modified cyclone evolution, terrain-forced flows, front–mountain interactions, and the North American monsoon.  Based on Google Scholar, Appalachian Cold-Air Damming by Bell and Bosart (1988) stands as his third most heavily referenced research article overall and his most cited article related to mountain meteorology.  The success of this article, lead authored by then graduate student Gerry Bell, reflects its comprehensive treatment of the subject, including climatological and case-study analysis, as well as its novel use of force-balance analysis to understand the development of along-barrier cold advection during these “dammed” events.

A common characteristic of Lance’s research is its relevance for operational weather analysis and forecasting.  A recent example includes his collaborations with National Weather Service meteorologists, students, and colleagues to understand how the complex terrain of New York and New England modulates severe convective storms.  Lance's reach, however, extends across the continent as he has also had a significant impact on weather prediction in the western United States through his study of the Catalina eddy, efforts to understand and predict cool-season winter storms and monsoon precipitation, and activities to advance our understanding of cyclone and cold-front evolution over the Intermountain West.  This talk will provide a broad overview of Lance's contributions to our understanding of mountain weather and climate, as well as his direct and indirect influences on weather analysis and prediction over the western United States.