Advancing tropical cyclone precipitation forecast verification methods and tools

Using a storm-centric cylindrical coordinate system based on the radius of maximum wind adds additional storm-relative capabilities to regrid precipitation fields onto cylindrical or polar coordinates. This powerful process-based model diagnostic and verification technique provides a framework for improved understanding of feedbacks between forecast tracks, intensity, and precipitation distributions. Finally, object-based verification including land masking capabilities provides even more nuanced verification options.

Precipitation objects of interest, either the central core of TCs or extended areas of rainfall after landfall, can be identified, matched to observations, and quickly aggregated to build meaningful spatial and summary verification statistics.