Based on the index values, composites of selected meteorological parameters and diagnostics were produced for each category - strong, moderate, and weak jet acceleration and strong, moderate, and weak Rossby wave development. Results indicate that when there is a strong acceleration of the jet, the storm interacts with the midlatitude baroclinic westerlies in a manner that allows continuous diabatic heating in the region of storm but also allows for the downstream advection of this warm air on the warm side of the upper level front. This leads to an increase in the thermal gradient associated with the front in the region downstream of the disturbance. The increased thermal gradient, in turn, forces the jet acceleration. In the case of weak acceleration, results indicate that the midlatitude flow is initially too strong such that it rapidly weakens the storm through shearing effects and limits the aforementioned frontogenesis. Strong wave development occurs when two conditions exist. The first is the existence of a potential temperature gradient on the dynamic tropopause for a significance distance downstream from the point of recurvature (i.e., a potential vorticity gradient to serve as a waveguide). The second condition is midlatitude flow that allows concentrated diabatic heating in the region of the storm as it recurves. This heating rapidly builds an upper level ridge which in turn excites downstream Rossby waves.
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