The Case of Cold Air Damming in Response to Topographical Influence Created by the Ozark Plateau

This presentation will focus on the topographical effects of terrain on cold air damming scenarios when the topographic feature in question is not necessarily as tall as mountain chains such as the Rockies or the Appalachians. In this case, the Ozark Plateau over southern Missouri and northern Arkansas is the terrain feature in question. To perform this analysis we use the methods of Bosart and Bell (AMS, 1988) utilized in their study of cold air damming that occurred east of the Appalachian Mountains. Their use of the Froude number to determine the necessary strength of flow needed to surmount a topographic feature will be used in an analysis of possible cold air damming involving shorter elevations. This presentation proposes that a scaled down version of the critical Froude Number used in Bosart and Bells study can be used to determine a Froude number suitable for lower elevation features that can cause cold air damming. The presentation will take a closer look at a specific scenario in which cold air damming occurred over northeastern Arkansas in March of 2014 creating an icy mess for motorists that became trapped overnight on Interstate 55.