Synoptical Analysis of Aerosols from Biomass Burning and their Impacts on Severe Hail Events in the Contiguous United States

The United States can be influenced by aerosols generated within the country as well as aerosols via long-range transport from different parts of the world such as Canada, Mexico, Central America, and Asia. It is known that biomass burning smoke aerosols, in particular, can influence deep convective cloud development. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is an observable climatological link among biomass burning smoke aerosols, severe hail (hail size greater than 50 mm), and synoptic weather patterns. A statistical analysis is performed using column biomass burning smoke aerosol retrievals from satellite and reanalysis data and severe hail events gathered from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) database. Monthly and seasonal trends of the biomass burning smoke and severe hail cases are examined. An air particle trajectory analysis is done to validate the source regions of the biomass burning smoke in the vicinity of deep convection. Furthermore, we consider and investigate how synoptic scale weather patterns influence aerosol distribution using reanalysis and archived SPC meteorological data. The time frame for this project includes at least ten years (2006-2016) and covers the contiguous United States.