Hsiao-Chung Tsai

Objective verifications and false alarm analyses of western North Pacific tropical cyclone event forecasts by the ECMWF 32-day ensemble

An objective tropical cyclone (TC) track analog verification technique has been developed to select all ensemble storm tracks predicted by the ECMWF 32-day ensemble that match the overall Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) post-season best-tracks. Ensemble storms within specified time and space differences of each JTWC track are first extracted as potential analogs, and four metrics of shortest distance, average distance, distance at formation time, and distance at ending time are calculated. An objective quality measure that assesses the overall track similarity between the potential analogs and each JTWC track is calculated in terms of membership functions for the four track metrics. Weighting factors multiplying these membership functions are adjusted to match with the quality measures for the ECMWF ensemble storm forecasts in a previous subjective evaluation. Objective verifications for the 2009 and 2010 seasons have been summarized in terms of Hits, Misses, False Alarms, and Correct Negatives that no TC would be present in the western North Pacific. The most important result is that the ECMWF ensemble was able to predict nearly all of the TCs in both seasons with only a small number of Misses that generally were short-lived tropical depressions. Good performance in terms of Correct Negatives was achieved during the 2010 season. False alarms are defined to be all ensemble storms that could not be matched any JTWC tracks within the specified thresholds. Evaluations of the characteristics of the false alarms indicate seasonal and geographic biases and that about 50% of the false alarm in the Week 1 forecasts originate from the initial the initial conditions in the model. A minimum of false alarms created in Week 2 forecasts is attributed to the decrease in horizontal resolution in the model that occurs at day 10. A steady and nearly uniform increase in false alarms in the Week 3 and Week 4 forecasts may be attributed to net convective heating in response to persistent environmental forcing in the tropics.

Extended-Range Forecasts of Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Events during 2012 Using the ECMWF 32-Day Ensemble Predictions*

AbstractPrevious studies have demonstrated the capability of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 51-member, 32-day ensemble to forecast tropical cyclone (TC) events (formation and tracks) in the western North Pacific on the extended range (5–30 days). In this study, the performance of the ECMWF ensemble in extended-range forecasting of Atlantic TCs during May–December 2012 is evaluated using similar approaches. The conclusion from this evaluation is that Atlantic TC events have lower forecastability using the ECMWF ensemble than in the western North Pacific. Hurricanes Kirk and Leslie and Tropical Storms (TSs) Joyce and Oscar were successfully forecast in weeks 1–4 and, thus, are labeled as highly forecastable. Somewhat forecastable storms that are only forecast in three of the four weeks include Hurricanes Ernesto, Isaac, Nadine, and Sandy plus TS Florence. The limited forecastable storms that were successful in only the first two weeks include Hurricanes Gordon and Rafael plus...

Applications of situation-dependent intensity and intensity spread predictions based on a weighted analog technique

A version of our situation-dependent intensity prediction (SDIP) is proposed for operational application after three modifications: (i) Ten historical track analogs are matched with Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) official track forecasts rather than besttracks; (ii) Giving two times as much weight to the 72 h — 120 h portion of the track as to the 0–72 h portion to give higher rankings for analog tracks with similar landfall or recurvature positions and timing; and (iii) Weighting both the intensity prediction technique and a new intensity spread guidance product according to new rankings of the track analogs rather than assuming all track analogs are equally likely. These special matchings and weightings of the track analogs in this weighted-analog intensity (WANI) add skill in the 72–120 h forecast intervals in regions where landfalls occur. Viability as an operational technique is demonstrated as the WANI has only 1 kt larger mean absolute errors than the JTWC intensity errors from 12 h through 72 h, and the WANI is 5 kt (20%) better at 120 h. The WANI rank-weighted intensity spreads each 12 h among the 10 best historical track analogs are processed to reduce any intensity bias and calibrated to reduce (increase) the over-determined (under-determined) intensity spreads at early (later) forecast intervals. Thus, the situation-dependent intensity spread guidance is generated that will include about 68% of the verifying intensities at all forecast intervals. Four examples of the WANI intensity predictions and intensity spread guidance are presented to illustrate how the forecaster might use this information in potential landfall and intensity bifurcation situations.

Situation-dependent intensity skill metric and intensity spread guidance for western North Pacific tropical cyclones

A situation-dependent intensity prediction (SDIP) technique is developed for western North Pacific tropical cyclones that is based on the average of the intensity changes from the 10 best historical track analogs to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center best-tracks. The selection of the 10 best track analogs is also conditioned on the current intensity, and it is demonstrated that for a subsample of current intensities less than or equal to 35 kt the intensity mean absolute errors (MAEs) and biases are smaller than for the greater than 35 kt intensity subsample. The SDIP is demonstrated to have advantages as an intensity skill measure at forecast intervals beyond 36 h compared to the current climatology and persistence technique that uses only variables available at the initial time. The SDIP has significantly smaller intensity MAEs beyond 36 h with an almost 20% reduction at 120 h, has significantly smaller intensity biases than the present skill metric beyond 12 h, and explains 36% of the intensity variability at 120 h compared to 20% explained variance for the current technique. The probability distributions of intensities at 72 h and 120 h predicted by the SDIP are also a better match of the distribution of the verifying observations. Intensity spread guidance each 12 h to 120 h is developed from the intensity spread among the 10 best historical track analogs. The intensity spread is calibrated to ensure that the SDIP forecasts will have a probability of detection (PoD) of at least 68.26%. While this calibrated intensity spread is specifically for the SDIP technique, it would provide a first-order spread guidance for the PoD for the official intensity forecast, which would be useful intensity uncertainty information for forecasters and decision-makers.

Tropical Cyclone-like Vortices Detection in the NCEP 16-Day Ensemble System over the Western North Pacific in 2008: Application and Forecast Evaluation

Abstract An automated technique has been developed for the detection and tracking of tropical cyclone–like vortices (TCLVs) in numerical weather prediction models, and especially for ensemble-based models. A TCLV is detected in the model grid when selected dynamic and thermodynamic fields meet specified criteria. A backward-and-forward extension from the mature stage of the track is utilized to complete the track. In addition, a fuzzy logic approach is utilized to calculate the TCLV fuzzy combined-likelihood value (TFCV) for representing the TCLV characteristics in the ensemble forecast outputs. The primary objective of the TCLV tracking and TFCV maps is for use as an evaluation tool for the operational forecasters. It is demonstrated that this algorithm efficiently extracts western North Pacific TCLV information from the vast amount of ensemble data from the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS). The predictability of typhoon formation and activity during June–December 2008 is also evaluated. The T...

Seven-Day Intensity and Intensity Spread Predictions for Atlantic Tropical Cyclones

AbstractThe extension of the Weighted Analog Intensity Atlantic (WAIA) prediction technique for Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) from 5 to 7 days revealed a need for two modifications. The first modification for the 7-day WAIA was to randomly select 70% of the TCs in the entire 2000–15 sample to be the training set and use the remaining 30% as the independent set. The second modification was to ensure that appropriate analogs were selected for ending storm situations such as landfall, postrecurvature, and nondevelopment or delayed intensification within the 7-day forecast interval. By simply constraining the analog selection such that the intensity at the last matching point with the target TC track does not exceed 50 kt (where 1 kt = 0.51 m s−1), an increasing overforecast bias with forecast interval was almost eliminated in both the training set and the independent set. With these two analog selection modifications, the mean absolute errors, and the correlation coefficients of the 7-day WAIA intensities...

Ending Storm Version of the 7-day Weighted Analog Intensity Prediction Technique for Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones

AbstractThe weighted analog intensity prediction technique for western North Pacific (WAIP) tropical cyclones (TCs) was the first guidance product for 7-day intensity forecasts, which is skillful in the sense that the 7-day errors are about the same as the 5-day errors. Independent tests of this WAIP version revealed an increasingly large intensity overforecast bias as the forecast interval was extended from 5 to 7 days, which was associated with “ending storms” due to landfall, extratropical transition, or to delayed development. Thus, the 7-day WAIP has been modified to separately forecast ending and nonending storms within the 7-day forecast interval. The additional ending storm constraint in the selection of the 10 best historical analogs is that the intensity at the last matching point with the target TC track cannot exceed 50 kt (where 1 kt = 0.51 m s−1). A separate intensity bias correction calculated for the ending storm training set reduces the mean biases to near-zero values and thereby improves...

Improved tropical cyclone intensity and intensity spread prediction in bifurcation situations

Bifurcation or bi-modal tropical cyclone intensity forecasts may arise due to uncertainty in the timing of formation, timing and magnitude of rapid intensification periods, or track forecast uncertainty leading to landfall or non-landfall or leading to interaction with warm- or cold-ocean eddies. An objective technique is developed and tested to detect these intensity bifurcation situations in our weighted-analog intensity (WANI) forecasts that are based on the 10 best historical analogs to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) official track forecasts. About 19% of the overall sample of 1136 WANI forecasts in the western North Pacific during the 2010–2012 seasons met the criteria for a substantial intensity bifurcation situation. Using a hierarchical clustering technique, two clusters of the 10 best analogs are defined and separate WANI forecasts and intensity spreads are calculated for the two clusters. If an always perfect selection of the correct cluster WANI forecast of each bifurcation situation is made, a substantial improvement in the intensity mean absolute errors is achieved relative to the original WANI forecasts based on all 10 of the best analogs. These perfect-cluster selection WANI forecasts have smaller bias errors and are more highly correlated with the verifying intensities at all forecast intervals through 120 h. Without further bias correction and calibration, the cluster WANI intensity spreads are under-determined as the Probability of Detections are smaller than the desired 68%. Four examples of WANI cluster predictions of intensity bifurcation situations are provided to illustrate how a correct choice of the intensity forecast and the intensity spread can be the basis for improved warnings of the threat from western North Pacific tropical cyclones.