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Extreme Weather Group, McGill University (Quebec)

Ronald Stewart is the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Extreme Weather for Canada.

Extreme weather (including drought) is a major concern for us all. Over the last few years, there have been enormous damages and some loss of life associated with such events over Canada, society is becoming more vulnerable to extreme weather, and there is mounting concern that the occurrence of such events may increase with a changing climate.

Ronald Stewart
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
McGill University

Chair Title
NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Extreme Weather

http://www.nserc.gc.ca/partners/profile_detail_e.asp?pid=163

Chair Program
Industrial Research Chairs Program

Role
Senior Chairholder since 2002

Summary
Extreme weather events produce enormous damage and there is mounting concern that they may increase with a changing climate. The goal of this Chair is to better understand the causes of such events and to use this knowledge to reduce their impacts and to assess whether their intensity, frequency, and location will change in the future. Initial focal points will be winter storms and their precipitation, Arctic storms, and major storms that end droughts.

These studies are all being conducted in collaboration with the sponsors, the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR).

For example, detailed information on winter precipitation was obtained during a field experiment at Mirabel, Quebec, during the winter of 2003-04 and this is being analyzed in collaboration with complementary data obtained by MSC scientists to better understand and predict hazardous winter weather.

We are also developing new instrumentation based on acoustic techniques to discriminate between various forms of winter precipitation; this system will later be transferred to MSC to improve the operational observing network.

As well, joint studies are being undertaken with MSC scientists on the detailed structure of the devastating 1998 ice storm, including an assessment of the operational forecast model to simulate its critical aspects and make recommendations on how to improve such predictions in the future.

Joint plans are also being developed with ICLR to examine localized winter weather conditions in urban environments and their impact on transportation.

Partners

Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction/Institut de prévention des sinistres catastrophiques
Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC)/Service météorologique du Canada (SMC)

Contact Information
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
McGill University
Burnside Hall, Room 945
805 Sherbrooke Street West
Montréal, Quebec
H3A 2K6

Tel.: 514-398-1380
Fax: 514-398-6115
E-mail: ronald.stewart "AT" mcgill.ca
Web site: http://www.mcgill.ca/meteo/staff/stewart/

Team

Extreme Weather Group, McGill University
http://www.meteo.mcgill.ca/extreme/index.htm

For more information on their research, please see:
http://www.meteo.mcgill.ca/extreme/Our_Research.htm

Publications

Some recent publications:
http://www.mcgill.ca/meteo/staff/stewart/

Henson, W. and R.E. Stewart, 2006: Severity and return periods of icing events in the Montréal area. Atmos. Res. (Submitted)

Gibson, S. and R.E. Stewart, 2006: Observations of ice pellets in a winter storm. Atmos. Res. (Submitted)

Nawri, N. and R.E. Stewart, 2006: Climatological features of orographic low-level jets within Frobisher Bay. Atmos.-Ocean (Accepted)

Theriault, J., R.E. Stewart and J.A. Mildebrandt, 2006: On the simulation of winter precipitation types. J. Geoph. Res. (In press)

Henson, W.L., R.E. Stewart and B. Kochtubajda, 2006: On the precipitation and related features of the 1998 Ice Storm in the Montreal area. Atmos. Res. (In press)

Roberts, E., R.E. Stewart and C.A. Lin, 2006: A study of drought characteristics over the Canadian Prairies. Atmos.-Ocean (In press)

Kochtubajda, B., M.D. Flannigan, J.R. Gyakum, R.E. Stewart, K. Logan and T-V Nguyen, 2006: Lightning and forest fires in the Northwest Territories: current activity and responses to future climate change. Arctic (In press)

Roberts, E. (R.E. Stewart and C.A. Lin) A study of drought characteristics over the Canadian Prairies. Atmos.-Ocean, 2005 (Submitted)

Inithar, M.R. (R.E. Stewart) Extratropical cyclones and precipitation within the Canadian Archipelago during the cold season. Arctic, 58, 162-174, 2005.

Ralph, M. F. (R.M. Rauber, B.F. Jewett, D.E. Kingsmill, P. Pisano, P. Pugner, R.M. Rasmussen, D.W. Reynolds, T.W. Schlatter, R.E. Stewart, J.S. Waldstricher) Improving short term (0-48 hour) cool season quantitative precipitation forecasting: recommendations from a USWRP workshop. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 58, 162-174, 2005.

Stewart, R.E. (J.E. Burford, D.R. Hudak, B. Currie, B. Kochtubajda, P. Rodriguez and J. Liu) Weather systems occurring over Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, Canada during three seasons of 1998/99. Part 2: precipitation features. J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004, D22109, doi: 10.1029/2004JD004929.

Hudak, D. (B. Currie, R.E. Stewart, P. Rodriguez, J. Burford, N. Bussieres and B. Kochtubajda) Weather systems occurring over Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, Canada during three seasons of 1998/99. Part 1: cloud features. J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004, D22108, doi: 10.1029/2004JD004876.

Lawford, R.G. (R.E Stewart, T. Yasunari, H. J. Isemer, M. Manton, J. Marengo, T. Koike, S. Benedict and J. Roads) Advancing global and continental scale hydrometeorology: a summary of the contributions of the GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85, 2004, 1917-1930.

Cao, Z. (R.E. Stewart and M.K. Yau) A new perspective of the physical processes associated with the clear-sky greenhouse effect over high latitudes. Advances Atmos. Sci., v. 21, 2004, pp. 171-180.

Liu, J. (R.E. Stewart and K.K. Szeto) Moisture transport and other hydrometeorological features associated with the severe 2000/01 drought over the Canadian Prairies. J. Climate, v. 17, 2004, pp. 305-319.

Liu, J. (R.E. Stewart) Water vapour features over the Saskatchewan River basin. J. Hydrometeor., v. 4, 2003, pp. 944-959.

Rouse, W.R. (E.M. Blyth, R.W. Crawford, J.R. Gyakum, J.R. Janowicz, B. Kochtubajda, H.G. Leighton, P. Marsh, L. Martz, A. Pietroniro, H. Ritchie, W.M. Schertzer, E.D. Soulis, R.E. Stewart, G.S. Strong, and M.K. Woo) Energy and water cycles in a high latitude, north-flowing river system: summary of results from the Mackenzie GEWEX Study - Phase 1. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., v. 84, 2003, pp. 73-87.

Stewart, R.E. and J.E. Burford, 2002: On the features of clouds occurring over the Mackenzie River basin. J. Geoph. Res. AAC 18, 1-13.

Stewart, R.E. et al., 2002: Hydrometeorological features of the Mackenzie basin climate system during the 1994/95 water year: a period of record low discharge. Atmos.-Ocean, 40, 245-256. Stewart, R.E. Towards understanding water and energy processes of the Mackenzie River basin. Atmos.-Ocean, v 40, 2002, 91-94.

Roads, J., M. Kanamitsu and R.E. Stewart, 2002: Continental-scale experiment water and energy budgets in the NCEP-DOE reanalysis II. J. Hydrometeor., 3, 227-248.

Liu, J., H.-R. Cho and R.E. Stewart, 2002: Characteristics of water vapor transportation over the Mackenzie River basin during the 1994-95 water year. Atmos.-Ocean, 40, 101-111.

Kochtubajda, B., R.E. Stewart, J.R. Gyakum, and M.D. Flannigan, 2002: Summer convection and lightning over the Mackenzie River basin and their impacts during 1994 and 1995. Atmos.-Ocean, 40, 199-220.

Cao, Z., B.P. Proctor, H. Ritchie, M. Wang, R.E. Stewart and G.S. Strong, 2002: Physical processes governing the water budget of and the discharge from the Mackenzie basin for the 1994/95 water year. Atmos.-Ocean, 40, 125-143.

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