ANALYSIS OF RAINSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH SIMILAR TRACK TROPICAL CYCLONES HAITANG (0505) AND BILIS (0604)

It is generally thought that the influence of comparable track typhoons is approximately similar, but in fact their wind and especially their rainstorm distribution are often very different. Therefore, a contrastive analysis of rainstorms by tropical cyclones (TCs) Haitang (0505) and Bilis (0604), which are of a similar track, is designed to help understand the mechanism of the TC rainstorm and to improve forecasting skills. The daily rainfall of TC Haitang (0505) and Bilis (0604) is diagnosed and compared. The result indicates that these two TCs have similar precipitation distribution before landfall but different precipitation characteristics after landfall. Using NCEP/GFS analysis data, the synoptic situation is analyzed; water vapor transportation is discussed regarding the calculated water vapor flux and divergence. The results show that the heavy rainfall in the Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces associated with Haitang (0505) and Bilis (0604) before landfall results from a peripheral easterly wind, a combination of the tropical cyclone and the terrain. After landfall and moving far inland of the storm, the precipitation of Haitang is caused by water vapor convergence carried by its own circulation; it is much weaker than that in the coastal area. One of the important contributing factors to heavy rainstorms in southeast Zhejiang is a southeast jet stream, which is maintained over the southeast coast. In contrast, the South China Sea monsoon circulation transports large amounts of water vapor into Bilis – when a water-vapor transport belt south of the tropical cyclone significantly strengthens – which strengthens the transport. Then, it causes water vapor flux to converge on the south side of Bilis and diverge on the north side. Precipitation is much stronger on the south side than that on the north side. After Bilis travels far inland, the cold air guided by a north trough travels into the TC and remarkably enhances precipitation. In summary, combining vertical wind shear with water vapor transportation is a good way to predict rainstorms associated with landing tropical cyclones.

Impacts of a Large-scale Adaptive Blending Scheme for CMA-MESO on Regional Forecasts-A Case Study of Typhoon Haima

Large-scale atmospheric information plays an important role in the regional model for the forecasts of weather such as tropical cyclone(TC).However,it is difficult to be fully represented in regional models due to domain size and a lack of observation data,particularly at sea used in regional data assimilation.Blending analysis has been developed and implemented in regional models to reintroduce large-scale information from global model to regional analysis.Research of the impact of this large-scale blending scheme for the Global/Regional Assimilation and PrEdiction System(CMA-MESO)regional model on TC forecasting is limited and this study attempts to further progress by examining the adaptivity of the blending scheme using the two-dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform(2D-DCT)filter on the model forecast of Typhoon Haima over Shenzhen,China in 2016 and considering various cut-off wavelengths.Results showed that the error of the 24-hour typhoon track forecast can be reduced to less than 25 km by applying the scale-dependent blending scheme,indicating that the blending analysis is effectively able to minimise the large-scale bias for the initial fields.The improvement of the wind forecast is more evident for u-wind component according to the reduced root mean square errors(RMSEs)by comparing the experiments with and without blending analysis.Furthermore,the higher equitable threat score(ETS)provided implications that the precipitation prediction skills were increased in the 24h forecast by improving the representation of the large-scale feature in the CMA-MESO analysis.Furthermore,significant differences of the track error forecast were found by applying the blending analysis with different cut-off wavelengths from 400 km to 1200 km and the track error can be reduced less than by 10 km with 400 km cut-off wavelength in the first 6h forecast.It highlighted that the blending scheme with dynamic cut-off wavelengths adapted to the development of different TC systems is necessary in order to optimally introduce and ingest the large-scale information from global model to the regional model for improving the TC forecast.In this paper,the methods and data applied in this study will be firstly introduced,before discussion of the results regarding the performance of the blending analysis and its impacts on the wind and precipitation forecast correspondingly,followed by the discussion of the effects of different blending scheme on TC forecasts and the conclusion section.

Forecasting tropical cyclone wind hazards and impacts:Summary from the Tenth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones(IWTC-10)

In this paper,we summarizefindings from the Tenth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones(IWTC-10)subgroup on forecasting wind hazards and impacts.We found that new approaches to TC wind hazard forecasts continue to be developed and are becoming an increasingly common product offered by operational centres.To add greater context to wind risk information for users,many operational and research centres are also working to develop impact-based forecasts that incorporate hazard,vulnerability,and exposure data.Efforts to develop tropical cyclone wind impact forecasts present resourcing challenges,and when compared to wind hazard forecasting,are generally still in their infancy.Overall,both operational and research centres are extending significant efforts to meet the strong public need for accurate predictions of TC wind hazards and impacts around the world.

Verification of tropical cyclones(TC)wind structure forecasts from global NWP models and ensemble prediction systems(EPSs)

Forecasting wind structure of tropical cyclone(TC)is vital in assessment of impact due to high winds using Numerical Weather Prediction(NWP)model.The usual verification technique on TC wind structure forecasts are based on grid-to-grid comparisons between forecast field and the actual field.However,precision of traditional verification measures is easily affected by small scale errors and thus cannot well discriminate the accuracy or effectiveness of NWP model forecast.In this study,the Method for Object-Based Diagnostic Evaluation(MODE),which has been widely adopted in verifying precipitation fields,is utilized in TC’s wind field verification for the first time.The TC wind field forecast of deterministic NWP model and Ensemble Prediction System(EPS)of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF)over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2020 were evaluated.A MODE score of 0.5 is used as a threshold value to represent a skillful(or good)forecast.It is found that the R34(radius of 34 knots)wind field structure forecasts within 72 h are good regardless of DET or EPS.The performance of R50 and R64 is slightly worse but the R50 forecasts within 48 h remain good,with MODE exceeded 0.5.The R64forecast within 48 h are worth for reference as well with MODE of around 0.5.This study states that the TC wind field structure forecast by ECMWF is skillful for TCs over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea.

A REVIEW OF THE STORM CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPHOON KALMAEGI (1415) AND RELATED FORECASTING CONSIDER ATIONS IN HONG KONG

Kalmaegi(1415)required the issuance of Gale or Storm Wind Signal No.8 in Hong Kong in 2014,even though it passed by at a distance of 370 km from Hong Kong during its closest approach.Storm surges triggered by Kalmaegi caused backflow of sea water in some low lying areas in both Hong Kong and Macao.This paper reviews the use of observational data in monitoring the cyclone characteristics and studies the synoptic factors leading to its fast movement and extensive circulation.The combined analysis of multi-platform satellite wind retrieval,in-situ surface observations and aircraft reconnaissance data over the northern part of the South China Sea is found to be useful in depicting the cyclone structure.Synoptic analysis suggests that the relatively large size of Kalmaegi may be attributed to monsoon shear pattern during its formation stage and the subsequent strengthening of southwesterlies over the northern part of the South China Sea.A strong subtropical ridge north of Kalmaegi not only provides strong steering and thus its high translational speed,but also leads to extensive gale force wind distribution over its northern semi-circle.The performance of various numerical prediction models in forecasting the movement,intensity change and wind structure of Kalmaegi,as well as the storm surge triggered,is assessed and presented.