In December 1987 an intense extratropical cyclone passed through southern Australia causing considerable damage, economic loss and forecast difficulty. This case was examined by Velden and Mills (1990), who showed that a limited area data assimilation system captured many of the features of the intensification and movement of the low. Their analyses used TOVS data at 500 km resolution, as received on the Global Telecommunication System in Australia. In this paper, their forecasts are repeated, but using TOVS data with a horizontal resolution of 250 km in the assimilation. It is shown that during the intensification phase of the low's evolution the additional TOVS data produced better forecasts of the low's shape, and also had the low moving slightly faster - an improvement in forecast accuracy. It is also shown that during the low's precipitation phase, the distribution of precipitation was more faithfully reproduced, with a double rainfall centre forecast, as was observed.
G.A. Mills (Sun,) studied this question.