Premium
Climatological patterns of thunderstorm activity in south‐eastern USA
Author(s) -
Easterling David R.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370110208
Subject(s) - thunderstorm , climatology , principal component analysis , spatial ecology , common spatial pattern , geography , meteorology , environmental science , geology , mathematics , statistics , ecology , biology
Climatological patterns of summertime thunderstorm activity are examined for most of southeastern USA, excluding the Florida peninsula. Monthly numbers of thunderstorm observations at 61 stations for the period 1951–1977 are analysed by means of principal components analysis (PCA) to identify recurring spatial patterns. The first seven components are found to contain non‐random patterns and are subjected to an oblique rotation. The results indicate that there are approximately six distinct spatial patterns. A high correlation between two of the rotated components and the similarity of their spatial loading patterns implies that they may be manifestations of the same pattern. Months with the highest component scores for each of the first four components are presented as pattern examples, and their upper level circulation patterns are discussed.