Science Source
Hourly storm characteristics along the U.S. West Coast: Role of atmospheric rivers in extreme precipitation
- Analyzes gridded hourly precipitation observations over the conterminous U.S. from 1948 to 2002 to determine climatological characteristics of storm precipitation totals
- Finds that:
- Despite generally lower hourly intensities, precipitation totals along the U.S. West Coast (USWC) are comparable to those in southeast U.S.
- Storm durations, more so than hourly intensities, strongly modulate precipitation‐total variability over the USWC
- Atmospheric rivers (ARs) contribute 30–50% of annual precipitation on the USWC
- 60–100% of the most extreme storms, i.e., storms with precipitation‐total return intervals longer than 2 years, are associated with ARs
- These extreme storm totals are more strongly tied to storm durations than to storm hourly or average intensities, emphasizing the importance of AR persistence to extreme storms on the USWC
Related Content
Headline
Feb 14, 2019 | The Weather Channel
California Rain Triggers Evacuations, Mudslides; Woman Rescued from Sausalito Home
Headline
Feb 14, 2019 | Reuters
Mudslide risk from California storm forces hundreds to evacuate
Headline
Feb 13, 2019 | San Francisco Chronicle
Heavy storms shuts down SFO flights, floods roadways across region
Headline
Feb 13, 2019 | LA Times
As atmospheric rivers pound California, here comes the season’s ‘biggest storm’
