Robert Trapp Research Group

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

How will severe convective storms and their hazards respond to climate variability and change? Trapp conducts research on severe convective storms, including their dynamics and attendant hazards, and their connection with climate change and variability. Current projects include seasonal prediction of tornado activity and convection-permitting dynamical downscaling to project hazardous convective weather under future climates. Researchers combine dynamical modeling, convection-permitting downscaling, and environment-informed ensembles to examine storm-scale responses to changing kinematic and thermodynamic environments. Studies also analyze radar and in-situ observations of mesoscale convective systems to link observed storm dynamics with modeled environmental changes.