Clifford Mass

About

Clifford Mass is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science at the University of Washington. His areas of expertise include synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, regional climate change, wildfire meteorology, high-resolution numerical weather and climate prediction, and the meteorology of the Western U.S. He is involved in teaching courses such as Introduction to Weather, Atmospheric Structure and Analysis, Weather Forecasting and Advanced Synoptic Meteorology, and Atmospheric Structure and Analysis I and II. Professor Mass has held numerous leadership roles and service positions within the meteorological community, including president of the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Meteorological Society, program chairman, treasurer, and chair of various committees within AMS and UCAR. He has served as an associate editor for the Monthly Weather Review and as a consulting editor for the Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather. His contributions to the field are recognized through awards such as the Fellow and Max Eaton Award from the American Meteorological Society.

Research topics

• Geology
• Machine Learning
• Computer Science
• Climatology
• Environmental science
• Physics
• Atmospheric sciences
• Remote sensing
• Meteorology
• Oceanography

Selected publications

• Machine Learning-Based Integration of High-Resolution Wildfire Smoke Simulations and Observations for Regional Health Impact Assessment

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2019-06-17 · 46 citations

  articleOpen access

  Large wildfires are an increasing threat to the western U.S. In the 2017 fire season, extensive wildfires occurred across the Pacific Northwest (PNW). To evaluate public health impacts of wildfire smoke, we integrated numerical simulations and observations for regional fire events during August-September of 2017. A one-way coupled Weather Research and Forecasting and Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system was used to simulate fire smoke transport and dispersion. To reduce modeling bias…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Synoptic and Mesoscale Evolution Accompanying the 2018 Camp Fire of Northern California

  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society · 2020 · 37 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The Camp Fire event was associated with dry, northeasterly winds that descended the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada of Northern California during the early morning hours of 8 November 2018. The downslope winds peaked around sunrise, with strong winds pushing the fire rapidly toward Paradise, California. Similar to recent central/Northern California wildfires associated with downslope winds, the synoptic pattern was characterized by building sea level pressure over the Intermountain…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The September 2020 Wildfires over the Pacific Northwest

  Weather and Forecasting · 2021 · 35 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract A series of major fires spread across eastern Washington and western Oregon starting on 7 September 2020, driven by strong easterly and northeasterly winds gusting to ~70 kt (1 kt ≈ 0.51 m s −1 ) at exposed locations. This event was associated with a high-amplitude upper-level ridge over the eastern Pacific and a mobile trough that moved southward on its eastern flank. The synoptic environment during the event was highly unusual, with the easterly 925-hPa wind speeds at Salem, Oregon, b…

  PublisherDOI

• The Influence of Soil Moisture on the Historic 2021 Pacific Northwest Heatwave

  Monthly Weather Review · 2023-02-13 · 19 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract During late June 2021, a record-breaking heatwave impacted western North America, with all-time high temperatures reported across Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alberta. The heatwave was forced by a highly anomalous upper-level ridge, strong synoptic-scale subsidence, and downslope flow resulting in lower-tropospheric adiabatic warming. This study examines the impact of antecedent soil moisture on this extreme heat event. During the cool season of 2020/21, precipitation over…

  PublisherDOI

• The Mesoscale Response to Global Warming over the Pacific Northwest Evaluated Using a Regional Climate Model Ensemble

  Journal of Climate · 2021-12-13 · 18 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This paper describes the downscaling of an ensemble of 12 general circulation models (GCMs) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model at 12-km grid spacing over the period 1970–2099, examining the mesoscale impacts of global warming as well as the uncertainties in its mesoscale expression. The RCP8.5 emissions scenario was used to drive both global and regional climate models. The regional climate modeling system reduced bias and improved realism for a historical period, in…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• The Structure, Dynamics, and Expected Future Changes in Diablo Winds Over Central/Northern California

  NSF · $486k · 2019–2023

• Heavy Precipitation over Western North America: Synoptic/Mesoscale Forcing and Decadal Trends

  NSF · $500k · 2010–2014

• The Structure, Origin, and Long-Term Trends of the West Coast Thermal Trough

  NSF · $639k · 2014–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Brian A. Colle

  Stony Brook University

  93 shared

• Robert A. Houze

  University of Washington

  84 shared

• Nicholas A. Bond

  77 shared

• Bradley F. Smull

  University of Washington

  74 shared

• Bradley R. Colman

  73 shared

• Mark T. Stoelinga

  Vaisala (United States)

  67 shared

• Peter V. Hobbs

  66 shared

• Arthur L. Rangno

  University of Washington

  64 shared

Labs

• Cliff Mass LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences

  University of Washington

  1992

• M.S., Atmospheric Sciences

  University of Washington

  1988

• B.S., Physics

  University of California, Berkeley

  1985

Awards & honors

• Fellow, American Meteorological Society
• Max Eaton Award, American Meteorological Society

Similar researchers at University of Washington

• Robert Woodh-92
• Aleksandr Aravkinh-84
• J. Nathan Kutzh-76