Open AccessEvaluation of the Storm Prediction Center’s Convective Outlooks from Day 3 through Day 1
Author(s) -
Nathan M. Hitchens,
Harold E. Brooks
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
weather and forecasting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1520-0434
pISSN - 0882-8156
DOI - 10.1175/waf-d-13-00132.1
Subject(s) - meteorology , storm , period (music) , environmental science , climatology , categorical variable , center (category theory) , aeronautics , history , statistics , geography , mathematics , engineering , geology , physics , chemistry , crystallography , acoustics
The Storm Prediction Center issues four categorical convective outlooks with lead times as long as 48 h, the so-called day 3 outlook issued at 1200 UTC, and as short as 6 h, the day 1 outlook issued at 0600 UTC. Additionally, there are four outlooks issued during the 24-h target period (which begins at 1200 UTC on day 1) that serve as updates to the last outlook issued prior to the target period. These outlooks, issued daily, are evaluated over a relatively long period of record, 1999–2011, using standard verification measures to assess accuracy; practically perfect forecasts are used to assess skill. Results show a continual increase in the skill of all outlooks during the study period, and increases in the frequency at which these outlooks are skillful on an annual basis.