An Unusual Case of Rapid Cyclogenesis in the Northeast Pacific Basin. Overview and Piecewise PV Inversion.

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Title: An Unusual Case of Rapid Cyclogenesis in the Northeast Pacific Basin. Overview and Piecewise PV Inversion.
Authors: Beaty, Patrick T.1 (AUTHOR) pbeaty@wisc.edu, Martin, Jonathan E.1 (AUTHOR), Winters, Andrew C.2 (AUTHOR), Lackmann, Gary M.3 (AUTHOR)
Source: Monthly Weather Review. Sep2025, Vol. 153 Issue 9, p1625-1649. 25p.
Subjects: Cyclogenesis, Low pressure (Science), Jet streams, Atmospheric boundary layer, Cyclones, Vortex motion, Rossby waves
Geographic Terms: Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean
Abstract: A case of extremely rapid, record-setting extratropical cyclogenesis over the northeast Pacific Ocean in late November 2019 is examined. The development is of particular interest as much of the strengthening occurred in an unusual environment characterized by cold sea surface temperatures. Cyclogenesis began as a stationary upstream surface cyclone in the north-central Pacific ushered warm, moist tropical air poleward toward a preexisting surface frontal boundary, resulting in intense lower-tropospheric frontogenesis. The resulting thermally direct vertical circulation mobilized a diabatic Rossby wave (DRW) which moved eastward along the baroclinic zone. An intensifying upper-level jet/front system draping equatorward from Alaska became favorably aligned with the low-level DRW on its approach toward the California–Oregon border to force deepening rates as high as 6 hPa h−1 prior to landfall. The 3D Ertel potential vorticity (PV) structure associated with this storm is partitioned into separate upper-tropospheric, lower-tropospheric, and diabatically induced anomalies which are separately inverted to recover the flow associated with each piece. Analysis of this partitioned PV reveals that development followed a bottom-up sequence by which near-surface PV dominated early cyclogenesis, diabatically induced PV dominated a large period of subsequent intensification, and upper-tropospheric PV dominated the final period of development. Bottom-up developments of this intensity are rare. It is shown that diabatic influences in response to vigorous latent heat release are responsible for much of the lower-tropospheric cyclogenesis with an upper-level jet/front system becoming an important driver for the rapid cyclogenesis observed immediately before landfall. Significance Statement: A rapidly developing low pressure system over the northeast Pacific Ocean in late November 2019 set all-time low pressure records and occurred in an unusual region of the world. The analysis shows that this development occurred from the bottom-up and midtropospheric latent heat release was the most important process leading to its record strength. It is very uncommon for low pressure systems of this intensity to follow a bottom-up development. More work is needed to determine how the upper- and lower-tropospheric features interacted with each other as they conspired to produce this record-setting low pressure system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Monthly Weather Review is the property of American Meteorological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: An Unusual Case of Rapid Cyclogenesis in the Northeast Pacific Basin. Overview and Piecewise PV Inversion.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Beaty%2C+Patrick+T%2E%22">Beaty, Patrick T.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> pbeaty@wisc.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Martin%2C+Jonathan+E%2E%22">Martin, Jonathan E.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Winters%2C+Andrew+C%2E%22">Winters, Andrew C.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lackmann%2C+Gary+M%2E%22">Lackmann, Gary M.</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Monthly+Weather+Review%22">Monthly Weather Review</searchLink>. Sep2025, Vol. 153 Issue 9, p1625-1649. 25p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cyclogenesis%22">Cyclogenesis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Low+pressure+%28Science%29%22">Low pressure (Science)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Jet+streams%22">Jet streams</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Atmospheric+boundary+layer%22">Atmospheric boundary layer</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cyclones%22">Cyclones</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Vortex+motion%22">Vortex motion</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rossby+waves%22">Rossby waves</searchLink>
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  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pacific+Ocean%22">Pacific Ocean</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22North+Pacific+Ocean%22">North Pacific Ocean</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: A case of extremely rapid, record-setting extratropical cyclogenesis over the northeast Pacific Ocean in late November 2019 is examined. The development is of particular interest as much of the strengthening occurred in an unusual environment characterized by cold sea surface temperatures. Cyclogenesis began as a stationary upstream surface cyclone in the north-central Pacific ushered warm, moist tropical air poleward toward a preexisting surface frontal boundary, resulting in intense lower-tropospheric frontogenesis. The resulting thermally direct vertical circulation mobilized a diabatic Rossby wave (DRW) which moved eastward along the baroclinic zone. An intensifying upper-level jet/front system draping equatorward from Alaska became favorably aligned with the low-level DRW on its approach toward the California–Oregon border to force deepening rates as high as 6 hPa h−1 prior to landfall. The 3D Ertel potential vorticity (PV) structure associated with this storm is partitioned into separate upper-tropospheric, lower-tropospheric, and diabatically induced anomalies which are separately inverted to recover the flow associated with each piece. Analysis of this partitioned PV reveals that development followed a bottom-up sequence by which near-surface PV dominated early cyclogenesis, diabatically induced PV dominated a large period of subsequent intensification, and upper-tropospheric PV dominated the final period of development. Bottom-up developments of this intensity are rare. It is shown that diabatic influences in response to vigorous latent heat release are responsible for much of the lower-tropospheric cyclogenesis with an upper-level jet/front system becoming an important driver for the rapid cyclogenesis observed immediately before landfall. Significance Statement: A rapidly developing low pressure system over the northeast Pacific Ocean in late November 2019 set all-time low pressure records and occurred in an unusual region of the world. The analysis shows that this development occurred from the bottom-up and midtropospheric latent heat release was the most important process leading to its record strength. It is very uncommon for low pressure systems of this intensity to follow a bottom-up development. More work is needed to determine how the upper- and lower-tropospheric features interacted with each other as they conspired to produce this record-setting low pressure system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Monthly Weather Review is the property of American Meteorological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1175/MWR-D-24-0198.1
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 25
        StartPage: 1625
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Cyclogenesis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Low pressure (Science)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Jet streams
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Atmospheric boundary layer
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cyclones
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Vortex motion
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Rossby waves
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pacific Ocean
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: North Pacific Ocean
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: An Unusual Case of Rapid Cyclogenesis in the Northeast Pacific Basin. Overview and Piecewise PV Inversion.
        Type: main
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            NameFull: Beaty, Patrick T.
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            NameFull: Martin, Jonathan E.
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            NameFull: Winters, Andrew C.
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            – D: 01
              M: 09
              Text: Sep2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
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              Value: 153
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              Value: 9
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