Verification of RUC 0–1-h Forecasts and SPC Mesoscale Analyses Using VORTEX2 Soundings

Abstract

Abstract This study uses radiosonde observations obtained during the second phase of the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) to verify base-state variables and severe-weather-related parameters calculated from Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analyses and 1-h forecasts, as well as those calculated from the operational surface objective analysis system used at the Storm Prediction Center (the SFCOA). The rapid growth in temperature, humidity, and wind errors from 0 to 1 h seen at all levels in a past RUC verification study by Benjamin et al. is not seen in the present study. This could be because the verification observations are also assimilated into the RUC in the Benjamin et al. study, whereas the verification observations in the present study are not. In the upper troposphere, the present study shows large errors in relative humidity, mostly related to a large moist bias. The planetary boundary layer tends to be too shallow in the RUC analyses and 1-h forecasts. Wind speeds tend to be too fast in the lowest 1 km and too slow in the 2–4-km layer. RUC and SFCOA 1-h forecast errors for many important severe weather parameters are large relative to their potential impact on convective evolution. However, the SFCOA significantly improves upon the biases seen in most of the 1-h RUC forecasts for the base-state surface variables and most of the other severe-weather-related parameters, indicating that the SFCOA has a more significant impact in reducing the biases in the 1-h RUC forecasts than on the root-mean-squared errors.