Challenges with the Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA)

The Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis provides hourly high-resolution surface analyses of temperature, dew point, and winds over the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. By using a downscaled background field and having access to many surface observations, enhanced detail is generated, and the product has been shown to be a useful tool for nowcasting and in verification efforts.

This paper focuses on the challenges that remain in offering a quality product. Specifically, the analysis struggles with some high-impact events, for which an accurate analysis is particularly desirable, due to a combination of quality control issues and problems with the first guess. The presentation will focus on landfalling tropical systems, strong synoptic wind fields, drylines, and coastal gradients.

Cases will be shown to highlight the problems, and ongoing and future work to address them will be discussed.