Two- and Three-Dimensional Simulations of the 9 January 1989 Severe Boulder Windstorm: Comparison with Observations

Simulations of the 9 January 1989 Colorado Front Range windstorm using both realistic three-dimensional (3D) orography and a representative two-dimensional (2D) east–west cross-sectional orography are presented. Both Coriolis forcing and surface friction (drag law formulation) were included for all experiments. The model results were compared with analyses of Doppler lidar scan data available from the surface to 4 km MSL provided by the Environmental Technology Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The fully three-dimensional simulations with realistic orography used time-dependent inflow boundary conditions. These experiments were designed, in part, to assess the ability of mesoscale models to predict the onset and general characteristics of downslope windstorms. The present experiments highlight the sensitivity of wind storm onset and positioning of surface gusts to both model resolution and surface physics, which is in agreement with previous findings. These...