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Webinar #59 - Thursday, July 13, 2017
Mesoscale convective systems: Bringing both beneficial rains and hazardous weather to the central and eastern US
Russ Schumacher
Dept of Atmospheric Science
Colorado State Univ.
Fort Collins, CO
(Biography)
A major portion of the summertime rainfall in the central United
States comes from “mesoscale convective systems”, or MCSs: large lines
or clusters of storms that regularly move across the country. In many
years, the regularity of these MCSs is what provides the rainfall to
support the thriving agriculture activity in the central US. But a lack
of MCSs in some years can mean drought, and an overabundance of them
can result in significant flooding. Although much is known about the
general conditions that are favorable for MCSs to develop and last for
many hours, it remains very challenging to predict their precise
location or the specific amount of rain they will produce: in fact,
summer heavy precipitation is among the most difficult aspects of the
weather to predict.
In this presentation, I will give an overview of different types of
MCSs, and what they look like when observed by radars and satellites. I
will address some of the challenges associated with predicting MCSs—and
the potential of forecasting systems currently under development—as
well as some of their impacts. Lastly, I will share some insights
gained from recent field research campaigns, including the “Plains
Elevated Convection At Night”, or PECAN, project that took place in the
summer of 2015.
View the Webinar by clicking here: https://youtu.be/DiLXRHb_fqM
ViewRuss's presentation slides 
Resources:
For Forecasts:
For real-time monitoring:
For past rainfall, flood forecasts, etc.:
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