Objective analysis of meteorologically significant events over the Central United States 1948-2008

The NCAR/NCEP globally reanalysis data was used to objectively rank the most anomalous weather systems over the central United States from 1948 to 2008. The method used here has been documented by Hart and Grumm (2001) and Graham and Grumm (2006). The central United States was defined as the region bound by 82°W to 110°W and 26°N to 55°N.

The data were stratified by the most anomalous events using height, winds, temperature and specific humidity. The top anomalous events for each parameter were defined, as well as a combined average of those four parameters to find the overall most anomalous events in the domain. In addition to the four variables above and their combined anomalies, the top anomalies of mean sea-level pressure and precipitable water events will be presented.

The preliminary results show that many of the top anomaly events, and the top events by parameter were notable meteorological events, both in the research community and in public recollection. Many have been found in the published literature and others can be identified in StormData. Employing a similar methodology to model output may aid forecasters in identifying potentially significant meteorological events.