Description

A more stringent test of a regional climate simulation is to compare the wind speed profile between model output and observed data. Although this comparison is a useful general diagnostic for the model, it also has more specific value in quantifying the amount of wind energy at different locations. We compared the wind speed output of the RCM3 climate model under current climate conditions (NCEP driven) to the observed values at three long-term upper air stations: Denver, Colorado, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Brownsville, Texas. Preliminary results suggest that differences exist between model output and the observed data.