Thomas W. Schlatter authored and/or contributed to the following articles/publications.
This article considers the gases constituting Earth’s atmosphere and how the mixture of atmospheric gases varies with altitude up to roughly 1,000 km. Turbulent mixing keeps the relative concentrations of gases nearly constant in the lowest 100 km. At higher altitudes, molecular diffusion controls the concentrations, with the lighter gases bec...
Weatherqueries: Tracing the origins of a monster hailstorm with high winds in Iowa
An assessment is presented on the relative forecast impact on the performance of a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model from eight different observation data types (aircraft, profiler, radiosonde, VAD (velocity azimuth display), GPS precipitable water, METAR (surface), surface mesonet, and satellite-based AMVs (atmospheric motion vectors). A...
Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) are typically designed to use data assimilation ideas to investigate the impacts of prospective observing systems (observation types and deployments). They may also be used to investigate current observational and data assimilation systems by testing the impact of new observations on them Over the...
An Unusual Hailstorm on 24 June 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. Part II: Low-Density Growth of Hail
An unusual, isolated hailstorm descended on Boulder, Colorado, on the evening of 24 June 2006. Starting with scattered large, flattened, disk-shaped hailstones and ending with a deluge of slushy hail that was over 4 cm deep on the ground, the storm lasted no more than 20 min and did surprisingly little damage except to vegetation. Part I of this...
An unusual, isolated hailstorm descended on Boulder, Colorado, on the evening of 24 June 2006. Starting with scattered large, flattened, disk-shaped hailstones and ending with a deluge of slushy hail that was over 4 cm deep on the ground, the storm lasted no more than 20 min and did surprisingly little damage except to vegetation. Part I of this...
A series of experiments was conducted using the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model/assimilation system in which various data sources were denied to assess the relative importance of the different data types for short-range (3h-12h duration) wind, temperature, and relative humidity forecasts at different vertical levels. This assessment of the value ...
2006 TAMDAR impact experiment results for RUC humidity, temperature, and wind forecasts
As part of the ongoing Great Lakes Fleet Experiment testing experimental TAMDAR aircraft observations, now sponsored by FAA in the 2006 Phase 2, NOAA/ESRL/GSD has continued its observation impact experiments (with and without TAMDAR) using the Rapid Update Cycle through 2006. During 2006, changes were made with the experimental RUC to improve TA...
From the 13-km RUC to the Rapid Refresh
.The Rapid Update Cycle in the U.S. is the only 1-h assimilation and mesoscale forecast cycle in the world running operationally as part of an operational numerical prediction center (U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction - NCEP). Predictions from the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) are used heavily as mesoscale guidance for short-range fo...
Data assimilation combines atmospheric measurements with knowledge of atmospheric behavior as codified in computer models, thus producing a ``best'' estimate of current conditions that is consistent with both information sources. The four major challenges in data assimilation are: (1) to generate an initial state for a computer forecast that ha...
Testing hypotheses about atmospheric observing systems for NAOS
100 Years of Progress in Forecasting and NWP Applications
Over the past 100 years, the collaborative effort of the international science community, including government weather services and the media, along with the associated proliferation of environmental observations, improved scientific understanding, and growth of technology, has radically transformed weather forecasting into an effective global a...
Institution National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA
CHAT – the Colorado Hail Accumulation from Thunderstorms project
The CHAT project aims to collect hail accumulation reports and study the behavior of hail-producing thunderstorms with dual-polarization weather radars and a lightning mapping array. In recent years, hail accumulations from thunderstorms have occurred frequently enough to catch the attention of the National Weather Service, the general public...
Institution National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA
This work set out to assess the performance of four forecast systems (the Short-Range Ensemble Forecast (SREF), High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Ensemble (HRRRE), the National Blend of Models (NBM), and the Probabilistic Snow Accumulation product (PSA) from the National Weather Service (NWS) Boulder, CO Weather Forecast Office) when predicting snow...
Institution National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA