The Madden-Julian Oscillation and extratropical cyclogenesis

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) has a significant role in weather and climate variability. The MJO significantly influences the occurrence of heavy precipitation around the globe. Since the MJO involves intense tropical convective heating anomalies, tropical-extratropical interactions are significant during its life cycle. Consequently, the MJO interacts with the large-scale circulation in the extratropics of both hemispheres modulates and influences the skill of weather forecasts in the medium and extended ranges especially the predictability of extreme precipitation. This study uses NCEP CFSR reanalysis from 1979-2010 and a tracking algorithm to detect the formation of extratropical cyclones. Events of MJO are identified with filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and zonal winds at 850-hPa and 200-hPa anomalies. The presentation will discuss the statistics of extratropical cyclones and relationships with the life cycle of the MJO.