A Climatology of High-Non-Thunderstorm Winds in the Tennessee Valley

Wind damage is frequently associated with thunderstorms, but non-thunderstorm winds can also pose a significant threat to life and property. Considering the potential impacts of train derailments, toppling of high-profile vehicles, building damage, and widespread tree falls, accurate and timely forecasts of strong gradient winds is a necessary function that requires several hours of lead time in order for proper precautions to be taken by the public.

This presentation will investigate datasets for wind gusts over 35 mph using representative ASOS/AWOS data points for the Tennessee Valley, ultimately highlighting different temporal distributions for high winds and ideally representative synoptic patterns. Increasing both forecaster and public awareness of high wind “seasons” will hopefully increase the timeliness of high wind advisories, while pattern recognition for the favorable synoptic regimes may also increase lead-time for damaging non-thunderstorm winds. This study will also focus on wake low events in the Mid South over the past 10 years, and whether there are any synoptic or mesoscale signals to provide pattern recognition favorable for these rare, yet impactful, mesoscale high wind events.