Weather pattern climatology of the United States

In this study the geographic domain covered the 48 conterminous states of the United States. The daily synoptic weather pattern was classified into nine types for the 10-year period January 1, 1969 to December 31, 1978. Weather pattern types were defined relative to the classical polar front model of a mid-latitude cyclonic storm system and its associated air masses. Guidelines for classifying weather patterns on an operational basis were developed. These were applied to 3652 daily surface weather maps to produce a time series of weather pattern type at 120 grid points of a 160 point, 3/sup 0/ latitude by 4/sup 0/ longitude array over the United States. Statistics on the frequency of occurrence, persistence and alternation of weather patterns were calculated for each grid point. Summary statistics for the entire grid and for six regions were also presented. Frequency of occurrence and persistence were found to depend on the size and speed of movement of the weather pattern. Large, slow moving air masses had higher frequency of occurrence and longer persistence than small (fronts) or rapidly moving (or changing) features (fronts, storm centers). Some types showed distinct regional preferences. The subtropical maritime high occurred mainly in the south central and southeast. An indeterminate weather pattern type accounted for those weather patterns that did not fit the polar front model or were too disorganized to be classified. The intermountain thermal low of the desert southwest was one such feature that dominated both frequency of occurrence and persistence in this region. Alternation from one weather pattern to another followed the polar front model of a moving cyclonic storm. The tendency for anticyclonic weather patterns to become disorganized as they weakened was seen in the high percentage of these patterns that changed to an indeterminate pattern as they aged