Modulations in the Leading Edges of Midlatitude Storm Tracks

Downstream development is a term encompassing a variety of effects relating to the propagation of storm systems at midlatitude. We investigate a mechanism behind downstream development and study how wave propagation is affected by varying several physical parameters. We then develop a multiple scales modulation theory based on processes in the leading edge of propagating fronts to examine the effect of nonlinearity and weak variation in the background flow. Detailed comparisons are made with numerical experiments for a simple model system.