Bunkers motion using pressure-weighted mean instead of normal mean

[aschueth]

Revisiting the Bunkers et al. 2000 paper, it appears they specified the method using the non-pressure-weighted mean wind, and the implementation in Metpy uses the pressure weighted mean wind. I was wondering if this was intended and there has been an update to the bunkers estimate, or if it's a bug.

[dopplershift]

So my memory may be fuzzy, but if the paper specifies non-pressure-weighted mean wind, we missed it. @mwilson14 can you correct me? I don't see anything in original PR or any issues.

@aschueth So how did you notice this? And would you be interested in submitting a fix?

[mwilson14]

Good catch @aschueth ! I just read through the paper again and it does specify non-pressure-weighted mean wind.

[dopplershift]

Well that's a good indication that we should adjust our implementation 😉

[tjturnage]

FYI, I recently talked to Matt Bunkers about this thread and he confirmed that the mean wind should not be pressure-weighted.

[aschueth]

I only noticed because I'm messing with different hodographs for my PhD and changing 3-6 km shear while keeping 1-2 constant doesn't change storm motion appreciably which kinda breaks my hypothesis and I was shocked to see that. Digging a bit more I found the pressure-weighted implementation which makes sense if I'm keeping 1-2 constant.

I'd be willing to submit a fix, but I've got a few more pressing matters to do at the moment, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to submit it.

[dopplershift]

@aschueth Understood, wasn't sure how much you had dug into things. If you get to it great, otherwise when we get around to it we'll post something here so we don't duplicate effort.