[Autumn & Winter 2023---2024 Stratospheric Polar Vortex. Events, Analysis, Discussions AND Outlooks]

20 hours ago, Mike Poole said:

There’s a question mark in my mind over how this SSW will affect things going forward.  I think there are two things with an SSW.  In an energetic split vortex SSW, where the zonal wind doesn’t just touch 0 at 60N 10hPa but goes substantially negative and remains easterly for some time, that can downwell and affect the trop weather at our latitude over the next couple of months, maybe eked out in discrete stages.  That’s not really on the table with this one, which brings me to the other thing, which is the lack of the strat vortex westerlies driving the trop pattern - it seems to me that’s largely been the case since the Canadian warming, and should continue.

Which means, for me, it is up to the trop to drive the pattern it wants, unfettered from above.  In which case, it is good that rising AAM and a favourable MJO phase might be driving the pattern into February in the direction of a -AO/-NAO, i.e. in a couple of weeks.  But if that does happen, I wonder how much of that will be attributed directly to the effects of the SSW, and whether or not that would be correct…

I actually do believe that the SSW might significantly influence the tropospheric circulation in the near future, but not in the way we usually expect. The rapid recovery of the vortex, the fast transition to NAO+, downward directed EP-flux, eastward phase tilt with height and the predicted vertical wave structure of the zonal wave number 1 component are all ingridients that together indicates that  downward wave reflection from the stratosphere might be involved in the transition to NAO+ in the next couple of days. However, the time scales of downward reflection events are much shorter compared to the usual SSW-effects related to  downward propagation of zonal mean zonal winds. Thus, I agree  that there should be good  possibilities for another regime shift in the end of January or more likely in February, related to MJO and AAM forcings.

 

[Polar Vortex / Stratosphere Watch 2022 / 2023]

As I tweeted a couple of days ago (from our newly created weatheriscool account, https://twitter.com/wxiscool/status/1592979954874331138) I believe that downward wave coupling/reflection from the stratosphere might be involved in the interesting and complex evolution forecasted ahead.

There is an area with negative vertical windshear present in the upper stratosphere which is known to be able to act as a reflective surface. In addition, the EP-flux charts show episodes of downward directed EP-flux and in high latitudes there is (in the blocked runs) forecasted an easterly phase tilt of the eddy geopotential heights (which indicate downward wave propagation). Usually reflective events are associated with NAO going positive, however that is generally when the original upward wave activity pulse comes from the climatological wave number one pattern in midlatitudes (which is then later reflected back downward in high latitudes, with decreasing geopotential heights around Greenland and rising heights on the opposite side of the pole), see Shaw and Perlwitz (2013), https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8N58X9W/download.

However, the initial wave pulse at the moment is not from the climatological zonal wave 1 and a possible upcoming downward reflection event rather seems to act to reinforce the Scandi block and might also support a retrogression of the blocking pattern towards the North Atlantic. If downward wave reflection takes place, as I believe it does in several of the recent model runs, it is not surprising to see a strengthening SPV at the same time as the tropospheric high latitude blocking pattern strengthens. That would be consistent with the recovery of the SPV and the positive u-mean anomalies forecasted in the stratosphere and the negative u-wind anomalies forecasted in the troposphere. Also, to relate back to the previous post, the shift in position of the main SPV can be related to the downward directed EP-flux, because when the main SPV moves from North America/Greenland, towards the pole and the Asian side, it temporarily brings cold air northwards which thus leads to a negative northward heat flux, consistent with the downward directed EP-flux vectors.

There is still a large uncertainty in the forecasts, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

16 hours ago, Weather-history said:

 

I have plotted the corresponding zonal mean zonal winds from the cfs members from last week and a majority of the members now actually predicts a reversal att 60N 10 hPa in late december or early January. 

By the way, these kind of charts, where you interactively can add or remove forecast and analysis data are now available at http://weatheriscool.com/prod/interactiveTserie.html

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

2 hours ago, Yarmy said:

Thanks, Mattias. Are you aware of any bias in the CFS regarding the Strat vortex strength? I ask because @Recretos has shown that the GEFS underestimate the vortex strength.

That's a very good question. I do not have that much experience of the cfs, but it is of course a bit suspicious when more or less all the members behaves like they do in the chart above. I also found this link(http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ost/climate/STIP/FY11CTBSeminars/jperlwitz_092210.htm) where they confirms that there is (or at least used to be) a bias towards weaker polar vortex states in the CFS so the data should be used with great caution. In this case I think it would have been nice to use some kind of model climate (instead of "real" climate) for comparison to get a more realistic signal. 

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

12 hours ago, BruenSryan said:

Sorry to be slightly off topic but where did you get this from by any chance (or the ensemble data)? It would be very appreciative, thanks.

The ensemble data is from CFS, downoloaded from here: http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov
I did the chart by myself so at the moment it is only on our server, but hopefully it will soon be possible to interactively add more ensemble data to the chart at  http://weatheriscool.com/index.php/stratosfaren-zonalvind-10hpa-60n-gfs-ens/

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

On 11/08/2018 at 12:34, Steve Murr said:

Whilst some of us begin to break out of early hibernation-

I noted todays 3 CFS runs for very late autumn indicating very weak stratospheric winds

I tried to add some more members from recent cfs runs (all members from last week) and its quite clear that according to cfs  the vortex will get a tough start of the season. Interesting to see such an impressive signal and will be interesting to see how it verifies. 

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

The latest runs from both GFS and ECMWF shows a very nice and quick tropospheric respons to the SSW with rising geopotential heights in Barents and Norwegian sea and negative zonal wind anomalies propagating dowards from the stratosphere.

.   

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

Nice to see the great action in the stratosphere! Will be interesting to see the tropospheric response. Could also be fun to compare with previous events and to make the comparison easier we have added a new product to weatheriscool.com that might be of interest. The product can be found from the website or following this link: http://weatheriscool.com/index.php/interactive-comparison-gfs-era-interim/ . The product will make it possible to plot charts with geopot. and temperature data at 10 hPa from the ERA interim record and compare it side by side with a chart from the latest GFS forecast. Both charts will have the same projection, colormaps and contour intervals to make the comparison as easy as possible. At the moment only January and February data from ERA Interim is available, but December and March will be added as soon as possible. The product might also have some bugs but hopefully someone finds it useful anyway. For each GFS forecast timestep we have also tried to calculate the most similar geopotential field in the ERA interim record (based on a simple Euclidean distance calculation) and the corresponding date is written out in the box at the bottom of this images: http://weatheriscool.com/index.php/stratosfaren-temp-geopot-height-10hpa/  . The calculation is very simple, just comparing the snapshot of the predicted geopot. field for each timestep, and does not take the dynamical background and so on into account so the result is of course far from perfect but maybe it could give some hints of analouge events. 

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

Some more pictures about the downward propagation/reflection of the wave 1 pattern that's been discussed above.

By filtering out only the wave 1 component of the geopotential height field and plotting for 30 and 100 hpa in the same picture (see below) the predicted phase shift from westerly to easterly by height can be clearly seen, indicating a shift from upward to downward propagation. Contours showing 30 hPa and filled contours 300 hPa (note: scale not the same for 300 and 30 hPa, but amplitude not very important here since the phase tilt is what is meant to be shown).

The shift from upward to downward propagation can also be seen by looking at a cross section for the wave activity flux. In the first figure below, showing the forecast for 22^st of December (some day before the wave 1 pattern in the stratosphere culminates) there is upward flux from the troposphere to the stratosphere. A couple of days later there is instead downward directed EP-flux in the lower stratosphere (from around 60N and northwards).

When the direction of the wave activity flux changes the stratospheric vortex can recover while the zonal winds in the troposphere is decelerating which is shown in the last image below showing the zonal mean zonal winds from GEFS at 10 and 300 hPa.   

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

Just want to add that I dont think that this possible downward propagation directly will result in a favorable pattern for cold weather in Europe since the rising geopotential heights (according to the easterly phase tilt by height during downward propagation) probably will be in the "wrong" location, at least initially. But if the rising geopotential heights can spread across the arctic area as in GFS 12z it would of course be a great thing.  

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

1 hour ago, Blessed Weather said:

A very interesting tweet by Dr Cohen based on GEFS 0z run but I must say I'm slightly puzzled by the Wave 1 observations because looking at the GEFS charts I see on Weatheriscool.com, based on the 12z run yesterday and today, the Wave 1 activity fades by the start of Jan 2018. My other observation is that if there is downward propagation, with the Strat Vortex u-wind speed forecast to rise to 49 m/s (which is above average) by 01/01/18, it suggests not such good news for favourable mid-latitude cold patterns in the trop?? As a 'learner' in this thread I'd again be interested in the views of others.

Here's the tweet. Then the Weatheriscool GEFS Wave 1 charts from 12z today.

There is a lag between the stratosphere and the troposphere so I think the downward propagation now suggested in the models will be of the negative zonal wind anomalies seen in the stratosphere during the next couple of days, se image below.

My interpretation of this situation is that the current disturbance of the stratospheric vortex is driven by upward wave activity flux and the wave 1 pattern with negative zonal wind anomalies in the stratosphere culminates in a couple of days from now. Then the models suggest downward propagation of the pattern back to the troposphere, with a deceleration of the zonal winds in the troposphere in the end of December and begining of January . This downward propagation is also related to downward wave activity flux in the lower part of the stratosphere which means that the stratospheric vortex can gain in strength from above when the upward wave activity flux fades. Its not fun to see the uptick in the zonal winds in the stratosphere but in this case it might be a price we have to pay to get something tropospherically out of the current disturbance of the stratospheric vortex, but that's just my thoughts.   

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

1 hour ago, Singularity said:

  
  

The 30 hPa sequence from the GFS 12z. Great consistency with previous runs, and the kick-off moving closer in time rather than being put back to stay at the same range each day.

The scale of vortex displacement and stretching depicted looks sufficient to my eyes for encouraging a tropospheric reverse zonal flow response (after approx. 14-20 day lag) across N. Eurasia, likely including much or all of the UK.

We can easily see, however, the risk that exists should the event not reach this magnitude; the reverse zonality line ends up drawn NW of the UK, much as was the case during the middle part of the week just gone but for a longer period, and we're stuck with unsettled conditions and temps between near average and very mild depending on the trough orientation.

So my interpretation is "high risk, high reward" when going along this route.

Has EPS been suggesting (or at least hinting at) anything like this magnitude and configuration of warming and height rises?

 

GFS 12z seems to be a bit extreme, some more images shown below, but GFS ensemble also has a very strong signal with a majority of the members now going for a reversal at 10 hPa 60N.

. 

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

The gfs ensemble now goes for a reversal at 10 hPa 60N.

Still very far out in the forecast and latest GFS not as extreme, but it seems to be good agreement regarding the increased wave 1 activity, latest gfs shown below.

 Interesting times ahead!

[Stratosphere and Polar Vortex Watch]

In the short term forecast, looking att zonal mean zonal winds and EP-fluxes, there seems to be some downward wave reflection from the lower strat with EP-flux convergence and deceleration of the zonal winds north of 60N in the troposphere. Maybe that could be contributing to the building of the greenland blocking during the next couple of days?

Thats my interpretation, but since I am no expert it might be wrong. Further out in the forecast the downward reflection in the lower strat disappears and some gfs runs have shown some signals of weakening of the upper strat, but yet not much to feel very excited about. 

[Model Output Discussions 06z 04/11/16]

44 minutes ago, mcweather said:

Good post Itsy.  The basic facts have been that Fergies updates and the Glosea and ECM long rangers have all pointed to the end of the month as being the time when things could get interesting and if that's the case one wouldn't expect to any spectacular winter charts showing up until after mid month really. So its case of sit tight and wait for the start of hopefully good things to show up on the medium range charts probably in about 7-10 days time.

There are lots of things in our favour for cold.  What would be great to see would be an ensemble graph like the ones that appeared in mid November 2010 which showed the 850 hpa temps falling of a cliff. That's when we knew it was game on for that amazing December.

I also think we should have some patience, the signal for the end of November and beginning of December is indeed very promising. Of course the reliability in the extended range forecasts is limited, but it should also be remembered that the predictability is highly flow dependent. Even though the models have shown some large spread lately I think there are some good reasons to believe in the quite strong signals that are shown in the outer range of the 10 days forecasts now. One reason is that we are seeing an increased amplitude of MJO in phase 6-8 which is correlated with rising heights in the Greenland area with a lag of about 10 days, which is consistent with the signal in the models.

It has also been shown that the skill in the extended-long range forecasts is increased when there is a significant MJO-amplitude in the initial state, which is the case right now.

Secondly the weak stratospheric vortex and the displacement towards Scandinavia and northern Russia should favor some high latitude blocking in the second half of November. The zonal winds at 10 hPa 60N today is actually weaker than all years in the Era interim record for this date! To me the evolution in the stratosphere seems to be quite similar to 2009 when we we had a strongly displaced vortex in the mid November.  

[Stratosphere temperature watch - 2016/17]

On 2016-10-21 at 22:46, knocker said:

 

The evolution of the wave 2 disturbance is also nicely shown in the GFS forecasts with a significant tropospheric wave 2 pattern in the next couple of days. Then an increased wave 2 pattern can be seen at higher altitudes in the end of October with a westward phase tilt indicating upward propagation.

 

The wave 2 seems to fade in the end of the forecast range and the vortex is forecasted to somewhat recover. Instead there seems to be an increased wave 1 when moving in to november

[Stratosphere temperature watch - 2016/17]

7 hours ago, lorenzo said:

Welcome along to Netweather Mattias - great site and some cool charts - expect these to feature on here throughout Winter !

Thank you Lorenzo! I look forward to follow the discussion in this thred throughout Winter Great to see the strong heat flux in the forecasts and I really like the links in your post above. The start of this seasons seems very promising  

[Stratosphere temperature watch - 2016/17]

11 hours ago, Gael_Force said:

Many thanks for providing the archive charts for the 10mb stratosphere. Hope it is OK to use one of them below.

 

I cannot remember what 2009 looked like but certainly a whiff of 2010 in the 18Z GFS. Going for a split as early as 192 hours.

  2010

 

I'm glad to hear that you liked the archive, we will try to add some more years when we get the time. In the meanwhile, just out of curiosity, I created some charts for 2009 and it seems like it was a strong early stratospheric event (close to reversal at 10 hPa 60N) in middle of November before we had the great cold air outbreaks in the beginning/middle of December with blocking and -NAO dominating for the rest of the season.

This years forecast for the beginning of November is actually not that different, below is the 30 hPa forecast chart (GFS 06z) vs 2009 analysis.

It could also be noted that the stratospheric vortex in 2009 recovered and the zonal winds at 10 hPa was actually stronger than ERA interim average for quite a while in December and January, while the tropospheric vortex remained very weak and disturbed.

Regerading 2002 it seems like the prolonged tropospheric blocking and significantly negative NAO-index during October-December did not lead to any weakening of the stratospheric vortex.This year, I think, it is quite different since we can already see a strong respons to the tropospheric pattern. 

Finally, sorry if the links I provided yesterday wasn't workning (required login) that was not my intention. Here is the correct link, with no login required: www.weatheriscool.com.     

[Stratosphere temperature watch - 2016/17]

Nice to see this thread again! We are some guys from Sweden that’s been following the stratospheric discussions the past winters and we have been really inspired by this forum and the great stratospheric threads!

The start of this season is indeed very interesting. I think the prolonged high pressure blocks in the NW Russia and N Scandinavia has been something extraordinary and in Sweden we’ve had almost constant easterlies so far this autumn. This tropospheric pattern also seems to strongly affect the stratosphere in the near future, as already mentioned in the above comments. In the end of October and beginning of November all the GFS ensemble members predicts strong wave 1 activity and a significant weakening of the zonal mean zonal wind at 10 hPa. The CFS then predicts the vortex to remain weaker than average for the rest of November and beginning of December 

  

To be able to better understand and follow the development we have tried to produce some own stratospheric products based on GFS and CFS. For example there is always some confusions about the wave 1 and wave 2 patterns so we have tried to filter out only these wavecomponents (to get rid of noise from higher frequencies) and visualize them on a map. Hopefully that will help to get a clue of the positions and phases of the waves and also it makes it possible to see the vertical tilt with height. It is an experimental product and to be honest we do not really know if its calculated correctly, but the results seems reasonably:  http://weatheriscool.com/index.php/stratospheric-forecast-2-wave2-500hpa-gfs/ http://weatheriscool.com/index.php/stratospheric-forecast-2-wave1-500hpa-gfs/