Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2820
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2820
08 Oct 2024
 | 08 Oct 2024
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).

Dust-producing weather patterns of the North American Great Plains

Stuart Evans

Abstract. The North American Great Plains are a semi-arid and windy environment prone to dust events that produce a variety of hazards to public health, transportation, and land degradation. Dust has substantial spatial variability across the plains, and the weather responsible for that dust is understudied in most of the plains, especially the North and East. Here we identify specific weather patterns associated with dust occurrence across the plains. We make use of an atmospheric classification that defines 21 weather patterns for the Great Plains that includes various stages of warm and cold frontal passages, northerlies, anticyclones, and summertime patterns not associated with mid-latitude cyclones. We use the time series of weather pattern to composite satellite daily dust observations from 2012–2021. We calculate average dust occurrence for each weather pattern, the contribution of each pattern to local dust loads, and identify the specific weather patterns most important to each location and subregion. We find no single weather pattern is responsible for dust occurrence in the plains, but that different patterns are responsible for dust in different subregions of the Great Plains. Passing cold fronts are most responsible for dust events in western Texas and New Mexico, southerlies are responsible in the northeastern plains of from Iowa to the Dakotas, and summer weather patterns produce the majority of dust in the High Plains from Colorado to Canada. Identifying the dust-producing weather patterns of particular subregions is a valuable step toward understanding dust variability and improving dust predictions, both present and future.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
Stuart Evans

Status: open (until 19 Nov 2024)

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Stuart Evans
Stuart Evans

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Short summary
This study of the North American Great Plains identifies the various weather patterns responsible for blowing dust in all parts of the region using a weather pattern classification. In the southwest plains passing cold fronts are the primary cause of dust; in the understudied northern plains, summertime patterns and southerly pre-frontal winds are most important in the west and east, respectively. These results are valuable to understanding and forecasting dust in this complex source region.