Abstract
Six of the more common wind laws which have been used in numerical weather prediction were subjected to a comparative evaluation using the National Meteorological Center analyses of the WMO NWP Test Data November 29 to December 7, 1962. Specified winds were compared with observed wind analyses at initial times and 36-hr. barotropic forecasts were evaluated against verifying pressure heights. The linearized balance equation gave optimum results; the two major disadvantages of the balance equation are documented and spurious anticyclogenesis is shown to have a source in addition to the divergence of the advecting wind.
