Identification

Title

Mechanisms for long-duration extreme winds in a WRF simulation of the 10 August 2020 derecho

Alternative title(s)

d054121

Abstract

The 10 August 2020 Midwestern derecho had winds exceeding 55 m/s with severe intensity winds persisting up to an hour. The Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF) was run using a 3-km horizontal grid with a 1-km inner nest to better understand mechanisms that might explain the extreme wind behavior. Simulations were sensitive to the microphysics used, with many schemes failing to produce a long-lived system in the area of the observed derecho. However, an unusually realistic simulation was obtained using the Thompson scheme but only when the Kain-Fritsch convective scheme was used. That scheme prevented spurious nocturnal storms that dried the lower troposphere prior to derecho development, causing the derecho to dissipate in western Iowa.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d054121/

protocol: https

name: Dataset Description

description: Related Link

function: information

https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d054121/dataaccess/

protocol: https

name: Data Access

description: Related Link

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

codeSpace

Dataset language

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

dataset

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2021-03-30

Keyword set

keyword value

REANALYSIS MODELS

WRF > Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2026-04-29

Keyword set

keyword value

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > U/V WIND COMPONENTS

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > WIND SPEED

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > UPPER LEVEL WINDS > U/V WIND COMPONENTS

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > WEATHER EVENTS > WIND STORMS > DERECHO

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2026-04-29

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2020-08-10

End position

2020-08-12

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2026-05-07

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

email address

datahelp@ucar.edu

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange

email address

datahelp@ucar.edu

web address

https://gdex.ucar.edu

name: NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange

description: The Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX), managed by the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at NSF NCAR, contains a large collection of meteorological, atmospheric composition, and oceanographic observations, and operational and reanalysis model outputs, integrated with NSF NCAR High Performance Compute services to support atmospheric and geosciences research.

function: download

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2026-05-08T11:59:17Z

Metadata language