BIO

I am from Tampa, Florida. I am a sophomore majoring in meteorology. I am planning to continue research for the rest of my studies at Florida State University and I am planning to attend graduate school. I am interested in research concerning the climatic variability in a region after a severe weather event impacted the region. For example, I am investigating how landfalling named tropical cyclones can influence dryness in the atmosphere in the post-landfall period in the region.

Investigating Flash Drought After a Hurricane with the Parameters of Evaporative Demand and Volume of Precipitation

Abstract

The purpose of my research with Dr. Vasubandhu Misra was to investigate if there tends to be dry atmospheric conditions after the landfall of a named tropical cyclone in that region. My initial assumption based on meteorology classes, personal weather experience, and research in the field related to flash drought, drought, and climatic variability (the way that aspects of climate such as temperature and precipitation differ from an average), was that there is a weak trend of atmospheric drying after the landfall of a tropical cyclone. Furthermore, I hypothesized that after the landfall of a strong tropical cyclone with a high precipitation accumulation in the reion there would be a stronger trend of atmospheric drying and even the potential for the occurrence of a flash drought (rapid onset of a drought). I collected data by compiling the evaporative demand drought index images for named tropical cyclones from the 2000 to 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Seasons. I analyzed the EDDI images to look for a trend of atmospheric demand for evaporation (drying of the atmosphere) after the date of landfall. To consider it significant drying, I needed to observe a decrease of at least two EDDI categories. Currently, I am collecting data on the volume of rain output measured in cubic meters per day during the landfall of the same named tropical cyclones. I will compare the precipitation accumulated during landfall to the evaporative demand of the atmosphere after landfall to determine if a trend of atmospheric drying occurred after landfall.

Keywords: Tropical Cyclone Post-landfall Drought