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Choosing a Topic
superstorm '93 case study project

Choosing a Topic:
Examine the data and think about some of these questions: What are some trends in the data? Are there any abrupt changes in any of the variables? Usually, drastic variations of the general trend are good places to begin, to invesitigate why the change occurred. You can focus on individual station observations, the general trend, or a particular weather phenomena. Here are some possible project ideas.


Overall Trends in the Data:

What are some differences in the observations between each station? Why did these variations occur?

How do weather conditions vary from one side of the storm to the other?

How did the storm conditions differ before the storm arrived, from while the storm was passing through and finally from after it had passed?


Focusing on the Stations:

Why did the temperature suddenly drop after a certain time?

Why did the temperature decrease at one station, remain constant at a second and increase at a third, all at the same time?

When did the rain change over to snow? Why did this occur?

When the temperature at station A began to drop, what happened to the other variables at the same station? Try and explain this behavior.


Focusing on Weather Phenomena:

Document the path and intensity of the cold front, or warm front associated with this storm.

Document the development and progression of the heavy snow band. Heavy snow is indicated by 4-stars.

Depict the movement of the different air masses associated with this system, and explain their roles in the development of precipitation.



collecting data
Terms for using data resources. CD-ROM available.
Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

culminating project