A climatology and case study of strong lake-breeze fronts in the Salt Lake Valley

A 44-year summer climatology and case study were performed for lake-breeze fronts moving from the Great Salt Lake through the Salt Lake Valley. This study focused on strong lake-breeze frontal passages that increased atmospheric moisture and cooled or slowed the increase of daytime surface temperatures at the Salt Lake City International Airport. During the 1960-2003 period, interannual variability in the number of strong summer lake-breeze fronts was compared to the average summer Great Salt Lake surface elevation. Summers with low lake surface elevation had fewer strong lake-breeze fronts than those with high lake surface elevation.

The case study focused on a strong lake-breeze frontal passage during the Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment (VTMX) in October 2000. The unprecedented amount of high-density surface, radar, sodar, and sounding data made available by VTMX was used to investigate the 17 October 2000 lake-breeze frontal movement, vertical structure, and interaction with other thermally driven flows.