Author(s)

Stanley G. Edwin¹, Nicole Mölders^1,2*, Katja Friedrich³, Sebastian Schmidt³, Richard Thoman⁴

¹Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Alaska Fairbanks,Fairbanks, AK, USA.
²Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
³Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁴National Weather Service Forecast Office, NOAA, Fairbanks, AK, USA.

The characteristics and climatology of funnel clouds in Alaska were examined using operational radiosondes, surface meteorological observations, and reanalysis data. Funnel clouds occurred under weak synoptic forcing between May and September between 11 am and 6 pm Alaska Daylight Time with a maximum occurrence in July. They occurred under Convective Available Potential Energy >500 J·kg^-1 and strong low-level wind shear. Characteristic atmospheric profiles during funnel cloud events served to develop a retrieval algorithm based on similarity testing. Out of more than 129,000 soundings between 1971 and 2014, 2724, 442, and 744 profiles were similar to the profiles of observed funnel cloud events in the Interior, Alaska West Coast, and Anchorage regions. While the number of reported funnel clouds has increased since 2000, the frequency of synoptic situations favorable for such events has decreased.

Alaska Funnel Clouds, Funnel Cloud Climatology, Similarity Retrieval Algorithm, Mesoscale Forcing for Funnel Cloud Formation in Alaska

Edwin, S. , Mölders, N. , Friedrich, K. , Schmidt, S. and Thoman, R. (2017) Conditions Supporting Funnel Cloud Development in Alaska. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 7, 223-245. doi: 10.4236/acs.2017.72016.