U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Factors Leading to Extreme Precipitation on Dominica from Tropical Storm Erika 2015



Select the Download button to view the document
Please click the download button to view the document.

Details

  • Journal Title:
    Monthly Weather Review
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
  • Description:
    Tropical cyclones are generally characterized by strong rotating winds, and yet, the associated rainfall can be equally destructive. Tropical Storm Erika (2015) is an example of such a cyclone whose heavy rainfall south of the storm center was responsible for significant loss of life and property. Tropical Storm Erika was a weak tropical storm in a sheared environment that passed through the Lesser Antilles on 27 August 2015. Radar and rain gauges measured at least a half meter of rainfall on the Commonwealth of Dominica in about 5 h. In this study, an analysis of several observational datasets showed that the combination of a sheared environment, dry northern sector, and mesovortex contributed to the significant storm precipitation. The sheared environment affected the storm structure, causing it to weaken, but also organized convection and precipitation in the region that passed over Dominica. Furthermore, a mesovortex embedded within the storm persisted over Dominica, leading to enhanced rainfall totals. Understanding the factors leading to heavy rainfall for this case is important for future prediction of similar weak, sheared tropical storms passing near mountainous islands.
  • Keywords:
  • Source:
    Monthly Weather Review, 146(2), 525-541
  • DOI:
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Funding:
    Grant no. NA14OAR4830172
  • Rights Information:
    Other
  • Compliance:
    CHORUS
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:c68ad3cf16361d1defe25921f0823ce5fe67fa7a81f4ae2a131528e8ea9d9588
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 8.73 MB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP