Research

Research within the CRL is predominantly tied to documenting and explaining the variability of high-impact meteorological and hydrological phenomena in regional climates. Much of our work is focused on the processes of snow accumulation and ablation, where by applying synoptic classification techniques, our research can bridge temporal and spatial scales to aid in understanding why and how these high impact events occur and influence communities. By developing pathways of physical forcing mechanisms, the end goal of our research is to provide the necessary information to inform management decisions and improve S2S forecasts. Additionally, we undertake a variety of applied climatological investigations in partnership with external stakeholders and in response to community interests. Below are some ongoing and past research projects. Students interested in joining the lab are encouraged to read over this section to familiarize themselves with the research being done.

Currently Funded Projects

Historical and Future Atmospheric Environments for Snowmelt and Rain-on-Snow (CAREER)

Funded by NSF AGS and EPSCoR Divisions (2025-2030), this CAREER award supports research and education objectives at the nexus of the causes of high-impact weather, experiential learning, open educational resources, and weather/climate services. The research specifically focuses on what causes rapid snowmelt from atmospheric and energetic perspectives in the observational past, and how those conditions are projected to vary into the future in global simulations during different scenarios. By assessing the interplay between snow cover and the weather conditions leading to melt, further insights are gained into how and why rapid snowmelt occurs and what hazardous impacts can follow. Through the project’s research and educational objectives, over 15 students per year will be actively involved in research efforts. Synergies between research and educational objectives will further allow for the creation and dissemination of a variety of Open Educational Resources for university students that will advance STEM education beyond WKU and facilitate the testing of additional under-explored hypotheses by students.

Modeling Turbulent Heat Fluxes during Rain-on-Snow Precipitation

Currently funded by NOAA-CVP (2023-2026), this research assesses the role and representation of turbulent heat fluxes during rain-on-snow precipitation events within observations and numerical model simulations, seeking to identify potential biases within the land-atmospheric coupling relative to observations. Particular emphasis is placed in case-study analysis of extreme events in varying topographic environments in addition to climatological analyses of energy flux contribution to events spatially across the United States. This work is in collaboration with researchers at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction, & Building Response Systems (CLIMBS)

Funded by NSF-EPSCoR, this five-year (2024-2029) project is part of a larger state-wide effort to enhance Kentucky's long-term growth trajectory as a national leader in climate resiliency and hazard management. The CRL and WKU's Disaster Science Operations Center (DSOC) are leading two of the seven CLIMBS research projects:

(1) Evaluating KY hazardous weather in the past, present, and future

This research will develop a new and detailed understanding of the variability, trends, and forcing mechanisms of hazardous weather events in Kentucky, including heavy and extreme precipitation, drought, severe weather, and winter weather, at meso, synoptic, and global scales. It further will quantify 21st-century projections of Kentucky conditions through numerical model simulation and evaluation.

(7) Emergency management and risk assessment of hazards

This research will perform in-depth analysis of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery to launch a novel, multi-level risk assessment system. It further assesses and develops a pathway for improvement to weather warning systems and forecast products.

WKU Consortium of Disaster Science and Management

Currently funded by the WKU Provost Office as a Transdisciplinary Opportunity Program grant (2024-2026), the WKU Consortium of Disaster Science and Management (CDSM) serves as the central hub of education, research, and industry partnership, facilitating the formation of new applied scholarly collaborations across WKU. This effort is creating new degree programs in DSM, conducting novel research at the topical intersections of natural hazards, emergency management, climatology, and public health, and building community and industry partnerships that foster collaboration.

Kentucky Climate Services

Funded by the Desert Research Institute, this award to the Kentucky Climate Center (2024-2026) builds greater understanding of the state-level need for climate services in Kentucky and works to develop the weather and climate products necessary to inform stakeholder decisions. Through this support, the KCC has hired a new climatologist to enhance our capabilities and collaborate with different public and private partners.

Ongoing Research Themes

Spatiotemporal Snowfall Variability and Trends

One of our most persistent research themes surrounds snowfall and snowfall mechanisms, including lake-effect snow. Multiple projects are ongoing, include efforts focused on resolving variability and temporal trends in snowfall seasonality in the central and eastern United States, and on quantifying the atmospheric forcing mechanisms of snowfall events. OCSE funding recently supported a portion of this snowfall research via a QTAG award and this work continues to be supported by NSF EPSCoR.

Snow Cover Ablation

Also in the realm of snow, we are currently conducting research on snow cover ablation across drainage basins of North America using various snow data products. This area incorporates efforts focused climatological perspectives of ablation frequency and intensity across North America, the energetic fluxes during rain-on-snow, and evaluating the biases in ablation simulation in GCMs and resolving the variability in projected atmospheric conditions suitable for rapid ablation. NOAA and NSF funding are currently supporting these efforts.

Meteorological Influences on Athletics and Public Health

Through a collaborations with medical doctors and race management officials, this research effort is examining the role of heat-related indices in predicting different medical outcomes, race performance, and operational event management during distance running. An initial effort with the Mayo Clinic and the Twin Cities Marathon resulted in research used to inform race management decisions such as start/no-start. More recently, a new collaboration has formed with the WKU DSOC and the Chicago Marathon in research assessing weather monitoring for resource and personnel deployment during races and understanding the importance of weather conditions for runner success.

Hydroclimatic Extremes

Research into the spatial and temporal variability of drought and extreme precipitation in the United States is another area of active research with multiple ongoing studies. One effort is to improve the scientific understanding of varying moisture conditions by linking seasonal drought conditions to synoptic- and hemisphere-scale atmospheric circulation (picture), while other efforts focus on extreme precipitation events. NSF EPSCoR funding is supporting these efforts currently.

Previous Projects

Research at the Glacier Creek Preserve

Multiple small-scale experimental projects leveraged the instrumentation structure at the Glacier Creek Preserve (GCP) site in NW Omaha, NE. The majority of projects are linked to the dual land covers within the self-contained headwaters of Glacier Creek: corn/soy agricultural cover and restored tall-grass prairie. Projects include quantifying evapotranspiration rates by land cover type, evaluating the magnitude of snowmelt runoff and soil moisture under different antecedent conditions (including by land cover type), and determining the manner in which water and carbon are stored and transported within GCP's soils and streams. Research was previously funded by the Sherwood Foundation via TRPP.

Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (CEMA)

While at the University of Delaware, I collaborated with members of the Delaware Environmental Observing System (DEOS; now a part of CEMA) on a variety of research- and extension-based projects including to 1) develop a climate change analysis for Delaware and the Delaware Bay estuary, 2) develop a standardized drought index for the state of Delaware, 3) create a Delaware coastal storm climatology, and 4) generate a Delmarva-specific hazards index for communication with the public.

Future Lake-Induced Snowfall Projections

Using GCM output, this study investigated the presence of a lake-induced snowfall signal to the lee of Lakes Erie and Ontario and examined snowfall trends and forcing mechanisms responsible for the changes. In the results published in the International Journal of Climatology, models detected a significant lake-induced snow signal that was projected to decline more quickly than other forms of snowfall. Modeled snowfall declined by 20-45% from 2006-2100 and was primarily attributed to warming surface temperatures impacting the percentage of precipitation falling as snow. The article received media attention by Syracuse.com in 2015 and the write-up can be found here.

Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS)

During the 2013-2014 winter, I was a part of the Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) project, working with the University of Illinois field research team. The goals of the project were to examine the formation mechanisms, cloud microphysics, boundary layer processes, and dynamics of lake-effect systems specifically for Lake Ontario. The NSF-funded project utilized a variety of observation equipment and practices. During the time spent in Canada, our research team actively monitored and sampled the windward shores of the lake.

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