January 29, 2005 ice storms in western North Carolina: a diagnosis using the WRF model

On January 29th, 2005, ice storms in western North Carolina produced snow, sleet, and freezing rain. The WRF model was used to simulate this event.

The model setup includes three nested domains: a 136x136 15 km resolution domain covering much of the eastern U.S., a 136x136 5 km resolution domain covering the Carolina region, and a 136x136 1.67 km resolution domain covering western North Carolina. NCEP's NAM 12km resolution tiles provide the initial and boundary conditions for the outer domain, which then provide the inputs for the middle and inner domains.

Different configurations of the model were run and the simulated output will be contrasted with surface station reports. Amounts and types of precipitation and background meteorological variables will be contrasted. Reasons for any configuration's superiority will be investigated.