National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The stratospheric has experienced its first major mid-winter stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) event since January 2013. In 2018 the zonal winds reversed on 12 February. The GMAO's global Goddard Earth Observing System forward processing (GEOS-FP) system successfully tracked the development of this SSW in it's routine 10-day forecasts. Here, we illustrate the breakdown of the polar vortex and the forecasting of the lower stratospheric and surface weather after the SSW event occurred. Read more.