Andy Wade

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Andy Wade

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Research
Scientist II

andy.wade@ou.edu
andrew.wade@noaa.gov
National Weather Center SPC

Education

PhD, Atmospheric Science 2020, North Carolina State University
MS, Meteorology 2016, The University of Oklahoma
BS, Meteorology 2014, The University of Oklahoma

Affiliated CIWRO Team

Storm Prediction Center

About

Andy has been passionate about severe weather since brushes with rare tornado events in his native West Virginia on 2 June 1998 and 9 August 2000. As an undergraduate at OU, he was part of a mobile ballooning team for the DC3 field campaign and worked on a local tornado climatology at NWS Birmingham. His M.S. research at OU centered on collecting and analyzing mobile soundings in the near and far inflow of tornadic and nontornadic supercells. In NC State's PhD program, he ran high-resolution simulations of high-shear, low-CAPE supercells common in the southeastern U.S. and examined dynamical differences between these and higher-CAPE storms. Andy joined CIWRO's group at the Storm Prediction Center in spring 2020. Since then, he has conducted verification studies for model guidance used in severe weather forecasting, published a web page with real-time model verification, created and tuned an algorithm to find MCSs/derechos both in historical archives and in real time, explored synoptic and mesoscale settings of derechos and other severe weather outbreaks, and been involved with the annual Spring Forecasting Experiment. He has mentored students in severe weather projects through the Lapenta and Hollings internships and OU's capstone course. Andy is a co-chair of CIWRO's outreach committee, which engages K-12 students across Oklahoma with weather, science, safety, and information about meteorology careers. Andy lives in Norman with his wife Heather and two sons, and enjoys fishing when there aren't storms to observe.

Research Focus

Supercell environments and dynamics
Derecho identification, climatology, and environments
Convection-allowing model verification

CIWRO Research Themes

Forecast Applications Improvements R&D

Honors and awards

- OU College of A&GS Outstanding Research Performance Award (2024)
AMS Graduate Fellowship (2014)
NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship (2012)

Publications

Wade, A. R., I. L. Jirak, and A. W. Lyza, 2023: Regional and seasonal biases in convection-allowing model forecasts of near-surface temperature and moisture. Wea. Forecasting, 38, 2415–2426, doi: 10.1175/WAF-D-23-0120.1.
Wade, A. R., and I. L. Jirak, 2022: Exploring hourly updating probabilistic guidance in the 2021 Spring Forecasting Experiment with objective and subjective verification. Wea. Forecasting, 37, 699–708, doi: 10.1175/WAF-D-21-0193.1.
Wade, A. R., and M. D. Parker, 2021: Dynamics of simulated high-shear, low-CAPE supercells. J. Atmos. Sci., 78, 1389–1410, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-20-0117.1.
Wade, A. R., M. C. Coniglio, and C. L. Ziegler, 2018: Comparison of near- and far-field supercell environments using radiosonde observations. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146, 2403–2415, doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-17-0276.1.
Flournoy, M. D., A. W. Lyza, A. R. Wade, and J. Fischer, 2024: Supercell-cell mergers and mesocyclone evolution in different environments. Mon. Wea. Rev., EOR, doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-23-0199.1.
Squitieri, B. J., A. R. Wade, and I. L. Jirak, 2023a: A historical overview on the science of derechos. Part 1: identification, climatology, and societal impacts. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 104, 1709–1733, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0217.1.
Squitieri, B. J., A. R. Wade, and I. L. Jirak, 2023b: A historical overview on the science of derechos. Part 2: parent storm structure, environmental conditions, and history of numerical forecasts. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 104, 1734–1763, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0278.1.
Coffer, B. E., M. D. Parker, J. M. Peters, and A. R. Wade, 2023: Supercell low-level mesocyclones: origins of inflow and vorticity. Mon. Wea. Rev., 151, 2205–2232, doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-22-0269.1.
Clark, A. J., and Coauthors, 2023: The first hybrid NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Forecasting Experiment for advancing severe weather prediction. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 104, 2305–2307, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0275.1.

Conference presentations

Wade, A. R., B. J. Squitieri, and I. L. Jirak, 2023: 26-year climatology of severe wind-producing mesoscale convective systems in the United States. 32nd Conf. Weather Analysis and Forecasting, Madison, WI, Amer. Meteor. Soc, 1.5, https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/wade/mcsclimo.pdf.
Wade, A. R., I. L. Jirak, V. A. Gensini, and J. Vancil, 2022: Using practically perfect intensity hindcasts to identify the environments of significant severe weather outbreaks. 30th Conf. Severe Local Storms, Santa Fe, NM, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 180, https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/wade/ppsigsvr.pdf.
Wade, A. R., I. L. Jirak, and A. Lyza, 2022: Performance of operational convection-allowing models by region and season: near-surface storm environments and updraft helicity. 30th Conf. Severe Local Storms, Santa Fe, NM, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 52, https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/wade/cambias.pdf.
Wade, A. R., and M. D. Parker, 2019: Dynamics of simulated high-shear low-CAPE supercells. 18th Conf. Mesoscale Processes, Savannah, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1.3. Wade, A. R., and M. D. Parker, 2018: High-shear low-CAPE supercell simulations. 29th Conf. Severe Local Storms, Stowe, VT, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 102.
Wade, A. R., and M. C. Coniglio, 2016: Supercell-environment interactions observed by MPEX and Mini-MPEX. 28th Conf. Severe Local Storms, Portland, OR, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 11B.2.
Wade, A. R., and A. Alford, 2014: Quasi-linear convective system and supercell tornado environments in central Alabama. 26th Conf. Weather Analysis and Forecasting, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 6.5.

Andy Wade

Andy Wade

Research Scientist II

Research
Scientist II