Observations on the Frequency, Duration, and Geographical Extent of Summertime Cold-Front Activity in the Southeastern USA: 1973–2020
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting study that could make a contribution to cold front research related to future climate change. However, The paper lack of show trends from 1973 to 2020 of cold fronts. I cannot find a figure or table relate to their trends. The completeness of the figures is low, and it does not convey a lot of information. Consider including graphs to show the trends.
Addressing the points listed below would improve the paper and its presentation, and I would support the publication after major revision. Here are my remarks and also suggestions for specific line numbers. I hope the authors will find them useful.
69 Here, we examine
->What is your purpose for the examination? What are you trying to reveal? I see only listed contents (1) hour, (2) day, (3) multi-day events of cold front. These are not the objective of the research. We need to write why we need to verify these cold front events.
102 cold fronts that reduced dew point temperatures for < 12 hours were excluded
-> why less than 12 hours are excluded?
106 Mapping
-> There is only one kind of analysis map (Figure 1~ 3) about the output, which is insufficient to explain trends from 1970 to 2020.
139 There was no significant change in the regional mean of cold front hours during 1973–2020.
-> where can I see these trends? From Table 1, Figure 1 or Figure 4?
147, 160, 174 Figure 1~3
-> It would be nice to cut out the white and gray areas of the upper part of the figure.
-> No Longitude legend
-> Three same style figures are monotonous. I think you can compress three figures into one. Or it would be better to use a graph.
199 Figure 4
-> Using images of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis’s results does not seem to show the originality of the paper
207 were decreases -> were decreased
201 conclusion
-> I don't know if this paper is about the warm hole or the trend of the cold front.
214 no significant trend during 1973–2020
-> I believe that there is a lack of data analysis in the result section to support the absence of a trend.
Author Response
Thank you for reviewing our manuscript, please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper utilizes hourly temperature data from 34 ASOS weather stations to explore the frequency and duration of cold fronts in the southeastern U.S., an area of unique interest given the “warming hole” phenomenon that has occurred there. The authors then briefly report results from a composite analysis to describe the major synoptic patterns associated with years experiencing below and above average cold front activity. The paper is very well written and easy to follow, but I have a few significant comments that I think should be considered before publishing.
Major comments
- The analysis of cold front activity is sound, but I would have liked to see a more thorough analysis/discussion of how cold front activity has changed through time. The authors do identify stations with significant decreases in cold front activity (of which there are only a few), but are there other interesting results from the time series analysis? Including a time series of cold front activity could be informative. I think this would also shed light on the relative contribution of cold fronts to the emergence and persistence of the warming hole and how that has changed over time, which I believe is an open question.
- The discussion surrounding synoptic mechanisms related could be expanded. Specifically, I was confused by the text describing Figure 4a and 4b. To me, 4a seems to resemble the positive mode of the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern, which seems consistent with previous work linking the PNA to the warming hole. I was surprised to read that it did not resemble a well-known feature of global atmospheric circulation. Similarly, in 4b I’m not sure that I see the ridging in the interior of the continent that you describe. Further, is it significant that the ridge (if it exists) overlaps with the spatial extent of the warming hole? please consider clarifying. Finally, I think it could be beneficial to include some climate metrics in your analysis. A simple correlation the major modes of climate variability (e.g. PDO, AMO, NAO, PNA, etc) could help to quantify the potential relationship between cold front activity and synoptic controls.
Author Response
Thank you for reviewing our manuscript, please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Line 83 - Could the authors clarify why a 3 month summer was used over the summer half year?
Line 137 - This data could be better represented in graph form.
Line 198 - Further discussion regarding the results in the context of the warming hole literature would improve the story of the paper.
Author Response
Thank you for reviewing our manuscript, please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
139 Table 1. "yearly-averaged" needed to be somewhere in the text.
212 A comment related to Figure 4 was not solved in the revision. The figure is not original and the resolution is not good.
There are NCEP/NCAR data website
https://rda.ucar.edu/
from there you can download the temperature data in original/NETCDF format.
I think it is possible to map these data on your Arcmap using these space-varying data.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for addressing my comments. I believe the revised manuscript is suitable for publication, congratulations on the work!
Author Response
Thank you for reviewing our revised manuscript, your comments were greatly appreciated.
