The October 1996 storm was a typical extratropical cyclone that occurred in the midwestern United States. The surface low deepened modestly and achieved a minimum pressure of 985 hPa. The storm was characterized by a strong cold front and a weaker warm front and extensive cloudiness with embedded convection north of the warm front and surface low center. This case is good for illustrating important concepts on storm structure and development. It contrasts with the November 1998 case in that it did not deepen as rapidly and that the upper level support was weaker. The lab exercises given below are aimed at beginning students majoring in atmospheric sciences. However, they can easily be tailored for introductory level courses or more advanced courses. The lab topics include:

• Storm structure
• Geostrophic, gradient and observed winds
• Jet structure and cross sections

We will be using the software program GARP to display the imagery, observations and gridded fields. The instructions are written assuming some familiarity with GARP. For those participants with no prior experience with GARP, there will be a tutorial at the beginning of lab and extra assistance will be given.

Links Back to:

• October 96 Homepage
• University of Washington Case Study Homepage
• COMET Case Study Homepage
• UNIDATA June 2000 Workshop

This work is sponsored by the National Science Foundation Department of Undergraduate Education through grant number 9554957.

For more information, contact Lynn McMurdie at Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351640, Seattle, WA 98195-1640; (phone)206-685-9405 mcmurdie@atmos.washington.edu (Updated: 25 July 2000)