Appalachian Cold-Air Damming

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Abstract
Appalachian cold-air damming is investigated by means of 1) a 50-yr monthly climatology, 2) a synoptic case study of the event of 21–23 March 1985 and 3) an investigation of the flow structure and force balance within the cold dome. The climatology reveals cold-air damming is a year-round phenomenon in the southern Appalachians with the most frequent, prolonged and intense events occurring in winter (particularly December and March) when three-five events per month can be expected. Cold-air damming is least frequent and intense in July. The synoptic case study reveals that cold-air damming is critically dependent upon the configuration of the synoptic-scale flow. The cold dome can be identified by a “U” shaped ridge (trough) in the sea level isobar (thermal) patterns and the 930-mb height (temperature) fields representative of conditions at the base of the inversion overlying the cold dome. Differential horizontal and vertical thermal advection, as well as adiabatic and evaporative cooling, are r... Abstract Appalachian cold-air damming is investigated by means of 1) a 50-yr monthly climatology, 2) a synoptic case study of the event of 21–23 March 1985 and 3) an investigation of the flow structure and force balance within the cold dome. The climatology reveals cold-air damming is a year-round phenomenon in the southern Appalachians with the most frequent, prolonged and intense events occurring in winter (particularly December and March) when three-five events per month can be expected. Cold-air damming is least frequent and intense in July. The synoptic case study reveals that cold-air damming is critically dependent upon the configuration of the synoptic-scale flow. The cold dome can be identified by a “U” shaped ridge (trough) in the sea level isobar (thermal) patterns and the 930-mb height (temperature) fields representative of conditions at the base of the inversion overlying the cold dome. Differential horizontal and vertical thermal advection, as well as adiabatic and evaporative cooling, are r...

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