The Jazmourian Basin in southeastern Iran is characterized by a hot and dry climate, complex surrounding topography, and substantial spatial and temporal variability in meteorological conditions. These characteristics can affect the performance of regional numerical weather models, particularly in the simulation of temperature and precipitation. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is widely used for regional atmospheric simulations because of its flexible configuration and range of physical parameterizations. However, model performance can vary under different atmospheric conditions and for different meteorological variables. Evaluating model performance together with an examination of the atmospheric conditions during selected cases can therefore provide a clearer interpretation of simulation errors.
Atmospheric circulation over southeastern Iran also varies between cold- and warm-season conditions. Previous studies have identified the importance of atmospheric circulation and moisture transport in controlling precipitation over Iran and southeastern Iran (Rousta et al., 2018; Mahoutchi et al., 2023). The ERA5 reanalysis provides hourly atmospheric fields that can be used to examine the thermal and dynamical characteristics of individual weather cases (Hersbach et al., 2020).
This study evaluates the ability of WRF to reproduce minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and precipitation during two selected periods in 2019 and examines the corresponding atmospheric conditions using ERA5. The analysis focuses on 12 February and 27 July 2019 as selected cold- and warm-season cases rather than as representatives of the entire seasons.