Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.
 
 
i

Superseded

This Document Has Been Replaced By:

i

Retired

This Document Has Been Retired

i

Up-to-date Information

This is the latest update:

Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers, the Sierra Barrier Jet, and Extreme Daily Precipitation in Northern California's Upper Sacramento River Watershed
  • Published Date:

    2016

  • Source:
    Journal of Hydrometeorology, 17(7), 1905-1914.
Filetype[PDF-3.19 MB]


Details:
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    The upper Sacramento River watershed is vital to California's water supply and is susceptible to major floods. Orographic precipitation in this complex terrain involves both atmospheric rivers (ARs) and the Sierra barrier jet (SBJ). The south-southeasterly SBJ induces orographic precipitation along south-facing slopes in the Mt. Shasta-Trinity Alps, whereas landfalling ARs ascend up and over the statically stable SBJ and induce orographic precipitation along west-facing slopes in the northern Sierra Nevada. This paper explores the occurrence of extreme daily precipitation (EDP) in this region in association with landfalling ARs and the SBJ. The 50 wettest days (i.e., days with EDP) for water years (WYs) 2002-11 based on the average of daily precipitation from eight rain gauges known as the Northern Sierra 8-Station Index (NS8I) are compared to dates from an SSM/I satellite-based landfalling AR-detection method and dates with SBJ events identified from nearby wind profiler data. These 50 days with EDP accounted for 20% of all precipitation during the 10-WY period, or 5 days with EDP per year on average account for one-fifth of WY precipitation. In summary, 46 of 50 (92%) days with EDP are associated with landfalling ARs on either the day before or the day of precipitation, whereas 45 of 50 (90%) days with EDP are associated with SBJ conditions on the day of EDP. Forty-one of 50 (82%) days with EDP are associated with both a landfalling AR and an SBJ. The top 10 days with EDP were all associated with both a landfalling AR and an SBJ.
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-15-0167.1
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Collection(s):
    NOAA Cooperative Institutes
    Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
  • Main Document Checksum:
  • File Type:
    1. Filetype[PDF - 2.82 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Creamean, J. M.; White, A. B.; Minnis, P.; Palikonda, R.; Spangenberg, D. A.; Prather, K. A.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Atmospheric Environment, 140, 298-310.
      Description:
      Ice formation in orographic mixed -phase clouds can enhance precipitation and depends on the type of aerosols that serve as ice nucleating particles (INPs). The resulting precipitation from these clouds is a viable source of water, especially for reg...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.82 MB]
    2. Filetype[PDF - 3.96 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Zawislak, J.; Jiang, H. Y.; Alvey, G. R.; Zipser, E. J.; Rogers, R. F.; Zhang, J. A.; Stevenson, S. N.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Monthly Weather Review, 144(9), 3333-3354.
      Description:
      The structural evolution of the inner core and near environment throughout the life cycle of Hurricane Edouard (2014) is examined using a synthesis of airborne and satellite measurements. This study specifically focuses on the precipitation evolution...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 3.96 MB]
    3. Filetype[PDF - 2.73 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Turney, C. S. M.; Jones, R. T.; Lister, D.; Jones, P.; Williams, A. N.; Hogg, A.; Thomas, Z. A.; Compo, G. P.; Yin, X. G.; Fogwill, C. J.; Palmer, J.; Colwell, S.; Allan, R.; Visbeck, M.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Environmental Research Letters, 11(6), 064009.
      Description:
      Determining the timing and impact of anthropogenic climate change in data-sparse regions is a considerable challenge. Arguably, nowhere is this more difficult than the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic South Atlantic where observational record...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.73 MB]
    4. Filetype[PDF - 158.64 KB]
      Personal Author:
      Pincus, R.; Forster, P. M.; Stevens, B.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Geoscientific Model Development, 9(9), 3447-3460.
      Description:
      The phrasing of the first of three questions motivating CMIP6 - "How does the Earth system respond to forcing?" - suggests that forcing is always well-known, yet the radiative forcing to which this question refers has historically been uncertain in c...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 158.64 KB]
    5. Filetype[PDF - 7.58 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Koch, S. E.; Ware, R.; Jiang, H. L.; Xie, Y. F.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Weather and Forecasting, 31(3), 763-786.
      Description:
      This study documents a very rapid increase in convective instability, vertical wind shear, and mesoscale forcing for ascent leading to the formation of a highly unusual tornado as detected by a ground-based microwave radiometer and wind profiler, and...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 7.58 MB]
    6. Filetype[PDF - 2.51 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Jackson, D. L.; Hughes, M.; Wick, G. A.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(6), 2705-2718.
      Description:
      An intercomparison of landfalling atmospheric rivers (ARs) between four reanalysis data sets using one satellite-derived AR detection method as a metric to characterize landfalling atmospheric rivers (ARs) along the U.S. West Coast is performed over ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.51 MB]
    7. Filetype[PDF - 10.92 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Hobbins, M. T.; Wood, A.; McEvoy, D. J.; Huntington, J. L.; Morton, C.; Anderson, M.; Hain, C.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Hydrometeorology, 17(6), 1745-1761.
      Description:
      Many operational drought indices focus primarily on precipitation and temperature when depicting hydroclimatic anomalies, and this perspective can be augmented by analyses and products that reflect the evaporative dynamics of drought. The linkage bet...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 10.92 MB]
    8. Filetype[PDF - 2.36 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Mahoney, K.; Jackson, D. L.; Neiman, P.; Hughes, M.; Darby, L.; Wick, G.; White, A.; Sukovich, E.; Cifelli, R.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Monthly Weather Review, 144(4), 1617-1632.
      Description:
      An analysis of atmospheric rivers (ARs) as defined by an automated AR detection tool based on integrated water vapor transport (IVT) and the connection to heavy precipitation in the southeast United States (SEUS) is performed. Climatological water va...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.36 MB]
    9. Filetype[PDF - 2.18 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Cox, C. J.; Uttal, T.; Long, C. N.; Shupe, M. D.; Stone, R. S.; Starkweather, S.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Climate, 29(18), 6581-6596.
      Description:
      Recent studies suggest that the atmosphere conditions arctic sea ice properties in spring in a way that may be an important factor in predetermining autumn sea ice concentrations. Here, the role of clouds in this system is analyzed using surface-base...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.18 MB]
    10. Filetype[PDF - 5.79 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Deser, C.; Sun, L. T.; Tomas, R. A.; Screen, J.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Geophysical Research Letters, 43(5), 2149-2157.
      Description:
      The question of whether ocean coupling matters for the extratropical Northern Hemisphere atmospheric response to projected late 21st century Arctic sea ice loss is addressed using a series of experiments with Community Climate System Model version 4 ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 5.79 MB]
    11. Filetype[PDF - 5.17 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Uttal, T.; Starkweather, S.; Drummond, J. R.; Vihma, T.; Makshtas, A. P.; Darby, L. S.; Burkhart, J. F.; Cox, C. J.; Schmeisser, L. N.; Haiden, T.; Maturilli, M.; Shupe, M. D.; De Boer, G.; Saha, A.; Grachev, A. A.; Crepinsek, S. M.; Bruhwiler, L.; Goodison, B.; McArthur, B.; Walden, V. P.; Dlugokencky, E. J.; Persson, P. O. G.; Lesins, G.; Laurila, T.; Ogren, J. A.; Stone, R.; Long, C. N.; Sharma, S.; Massling, A.; Turner, D. D.; Stanitski, D. M.; Asmi, E.; Aurela, M.; Skov, H.; Eleftheriadis, K.; Virkkula, A.; Platt, A.; Forland, E. J.; Iijima, Y.; Nielsen, I. E.; Bergin, M. H.; Candlish, L.; Zimov, N. S.; Zimov, S. A.; O'Neill, N. T.; Fogal, P. F.; Kivi, R.; Konopleva-Akish, E. A.; Verlinde, J.; Kustov, V. Y.; Vasel, B.; Ivakhov, V. M.; Viisanen, Y.; Intrieri, J. M.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97(6), 1033-1056.
      Description:
      International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) activities and partnerships were initiated as a part of the 2007-09 International Polar Year (IPY) and are expected to continue for many decades as a legacy program. The IASOA focus is...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 5.17 MB]
    12. Filetype[PDF - 9.93 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Hoerling, M.; Eischeid, J.; Perlwitz, J.; Quan, X. W.; Wolter, K.; Cheng, L. Y.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Climate, 29(7), 2313-2332.
      Description:
      Time series of U.S. daily heavy precipitation (95th percentile) are analyzed to determine factors responsible for regionality and seasonality in their 1979-2013 trends. For annual conditions, contiguous U.S. trends have been characterized by increase...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 9.93 MB]
    13. Filetype[PDF - 1.90 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Hodyss, D.; Satterfield, E.; McLay, J.; Hamill, T. M.; Scheuerer, M.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Monthly Weather Review, 144(4), 1649-1668.
      Description:
      Ensemble postprocessing is frequently applied to correct biases and deficiencies in the spread of ensemble forecasts. Methods involving weighted, regression-corrected forecasts address the typical biases and under-dispersion of ensembles through a re...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.90 MB]
    14. Filetype[PDF - 1.52 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Rangwala, I.; Sinsky, E.; Miller, J. R.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Climate Dynamics, 46(7-8), 2115-2122.
      Description:
      The future rate of climate change in mountains has many potential human impacts, including those related to water resources, ecosystem services, and recreation. Analysis of the ensemble mean response of CMIP5 global climate models (GCMs) shows amplif...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.52 MB]
    15. Filetype[PDF - 7.05 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Swales, D.; Alexander, M.; Hughes, M.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Geophysical Research Letters, 43(4), 1727-1735.
      Description:
      Self-organizing maps (SOMs) were used to explore relationships between large-scale synoptic conditions, especially vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT), and extreme precipitation events in the U.S. Intermountain West (IMW). By examining ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 7.05 MB]
    16. Filetype[PDF - 1.46 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Bakker, D. C. E.; Pfeil, B.; Landa, C. S.; Metzl, N.; O'Brien, K. M.; Olsen, A.; Smith, K.; Cosca, C.; Harasawa, S.; Jones, S. D.; Nakaoka, S.; Nojiri, Y.; Schuster, U.; Steinhoff, T.; Sweeney, C.; Takahashi, T.; Tilbrook, B.; Wada, C.; Wanninkhof, R.; Alin, S. R.; Balestrini, C. F.; Barbero, L.; Bates, N. R.; Bianchi, A. A.; Bonou, F.; Boutin, J.; Bozec, Y.; Burger, E. F.; Cai, W. J.; Castle, R. D.; Chen, L. Q.; Chierici, M.; Currie, K.; Evans, W.; Featherstone, C.; Feely, R. A.; Fransson, A.; Goyet, C.; Greenwood, N.; Gregor, L.; Hankin, S.; Hardman-Mountford, N. J.; Harlay, J.; Hauck, J.; Hoppema, M.; Humphreys, M. P.; Hunt, C.; Huss, B.; Ibanhez, J. S. P.; Johannessen, T.; Keeling, R.; Kitidis, V.; Kortzinger, A.; Kozyr, A.; Krasakopoulou, E.; Kuwata, A.; Landschutzer, P.; Lauvset, S. K.; Lefevre, N.; Lo Monaco, C.; Manke, A.; Mathis, J. T.; Merlivat, L.; Millero, F. J.; Monteiro, P. M. S.; Munro, D. R.; Murata, A.; Newberger, T.; Omar, A. M.; Ono, T.; Paterson, K.; Pearce, D.; Pierrot, D.; Robbins, L. L.; Saito, S.; Salisbury, J.; Schlitzer, R.; Schneider, B.; Schweitzer, R.; Sieger, R.; Skjelvan, I.; Sullivan, K. F.; Sutherland, S. C.; Sutton, A. J.; Tadokoro, K.; Telszewski, M.; Tuma, M.; van Heuven, S.; Vandemark, D.; Ward, B.; Watson, A. J.; Xu, S. Q.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Earth System Science Data, 8(2), 383-413.
      Description:
      The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled fCO(2) (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million fCO(2) values from 3646 data ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.46 MB]
    17. Filetype[PDF - 1.48 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Pettersen, C.; Bennartz, R.; Kulie, M. S.; Merrelli, A. J.; Shupe, M. D.; Turner, D. D.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(7), 4743-4756.
      Description:
      Multi-instrument, ground-based measurements provide unique and comprehensive data sets of the atmosphere for a specific location over long periods of time and resulting data compliment past and existing global satellite observations. This paper explo...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.48 MB]
    18. Filetype[PDF - 2.82 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Bianco, L.; Djalalova, I. V.; Wilczak, J. M.; Cline, J.; Calvert, S.; Konopleva-Akish, E.; Finley, C.; Freedman, J.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Weather and Forecasting, 31(4), 1137-1156.
      Description:
      A wind energy Ramp Tool and Metric (RT&M) has been developed out of recognition that during significant ramp events (large changes in wind power Delta p over short periods of time Delta t) it is more difficult to balance the electric load with power ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.82 MB]
    19. Filetype[PDF - 2.41 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Matrosov, S. Y.; Cifelli, R.; Neiman, P. J.; White, A. B.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 55(6), 1345-1358.
      Description:
      S-band profiling (S-PROF) radar measurements from different southeastern U.S. Hydrometeorology Testbed sites indicated a frequent occurrence of rain that did not exhibit radar bright band (BB) and was observed outside the periods of deep-convective p...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.41 MB]
    20. Filetype[PDF - 1.72 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Hoell, A.; Hoerling, M.; Eischeid, J.; Wolter, K.; Dole, R.; Perlwitz, J.; Xu, T. Y.; Cheng, L. Y.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Geophysical Research Letters, 43(2), 819-825.
      Description:
      The sensitivity of California precipitation to El Nino intensity is investigated by applying a multimodel ensemble of historical climate simulations to estimate how November-April precipitation probability distributions vary across three categorizati...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.72 MB]

You May Also Like:

  1. Filetype[PDF - 3.22 MB]
    Personal Author:
    Guan, B.; Waliser, D. E.; Ralph, F. M.; Fetzer, E. J.; Neiman, P. J.;
    Published Date:
    2016
    Source:
    Geophysical Research Letters, 43(6), 2964-2973.
    Description:
    Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow, elongated, synoptic corridors of enhanced water vapor transport that play an important role in regional weather/hydrology. Rain-on-snow (ROS) events during ARs present enhanced flood risks due to the combined effe...
    File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.22 MB]
  2. Filetype[PDF - 10.62 MB]
    Personal Author:
    White, A. B.; Neiman, P. J.; Creamean, J. M.; Coleman, T.; Ralph, F. M.; Prather, K. A.;
    Published Date:
    2015
    Source:
    Journal of Hydrometeorology, 16(3), 1048-1069.
    Description:
    Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow regions of enhanced water vapor transport, usually found on the warm-sector side of the polar cold front in many midlatitude storms formed primarily over the oceans. Nonbrightband (NBB) rain is a shallow orographic...
    File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 10.62 MB]
  3. Filetype[PDF - 11.35 MB]
    Personal Author:
    Neiman, P. J.; Moore, B. J.; White, A. B.; Wick, G. A.; Aikins, J.; Jackson, D. L.; Spackman, J. R.; Ralph, F. M.;
    Published Date:
    2016
    Source:
    Monthly Weather Review, 144(3), 1115-1144.
    Description:
    The wettest period during the CalWater-2014 winter field campaign occurred with a long-lived, intense atmospheric river (AR) that impacted California on 7-10 February. The AR was maintained in conjunction with the development and propagation of three...
    File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 11.35 MB]