Continuing with the theme of forecast difficulties at the edges of a cold air mass, let's look at Thursday's minimum temperature forecast for Huntsville, Texas ("Home of Sam Houston"). The cold air mass that has spilled down the Great Plains is stalled in central Texas, and Huntsville is near the edge (described as a "weak cold front" in the NWS forecast discussion), and one model keeps it in the cooler air on Thursday and one keeps the cooler air to the north of Huntsville. Let's forecast Tmin for Huntsville and see what happens.
Question: How could the dew point temperature help you determine whether or not Huntsville is in the cooler or warmer air mass?
Forecaster | Tmin, deg F (error) | Comment | Day Score |
---|---|---|---|
OBSERVED | 40 | Tmin COMPLETE. | |
Reference | |||
CLIMATE | 46.6 (6.6) | NCDC Climate Normals, 1981-2010 | 2.4 |
MOS | |||
GFS-MOS-06-DAY02 | 60 (20) | 0.4 | |
GFS-MOS-12-DAY02 | 58 (18) | 0.7 | |
GFS-MOS-18-DAY02 | 58 (18) | 0.7 | |
GFS-MOS-00-DAY01 | 55 (15) | 1.1 | |
GFS-MOS-06-DAY01 | 53 (13) | 1.4 | |
GFS-MOS-12-DAY01 | 51 (11) | 1.7 | |
GFS-MOS-18-DAY01 | 48 (8) | 2.2 | |
GFS-MOS-00-DAY00 | 44 (4) | 2.8 | |
NAM-MOS-12-DAY02 | 43 (3) | 2.9 | |
NAM-MOS-00-DAY00 | 38 (-2) | 3.1 | |
NAM-MOS-12-DAY01 | 39 (-1) | 3.2 | |
NAM-MOS-00-DAY01 | 40 (0) | 3.4 |