Hourly Analyses of the Large Storms and Atmospheric Rivers that Provide Most of California’s Precipitation in Only 10 to 100 Hours per Year

Lamjiri, Maryam; Dettinger, Michael; Ralph, F. Martin; Oakley, Nina; Rutz, Jonathan

doi:10.15447/sfews.2018v16iss4art1

i

Hourly Analyses of the Large Storms and Atmospheric Rivers that Provide Most of California’s Precipitation in Only 10 to 100 Hours per Year

2018
By Lamjiri, Maryam ; Dettinger, Michael ; Ralph, F. Martin ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science
Personal Author:

Lamjiri, Maryam ; Dettinger, Michael ; Ralph, F. Martin ; Oakley, Nina ; Rutz, Jonathan
NOAA Program & Office:

NWS (National Weather Service) ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:

California is regularly impacted by floods and droughts, primarily as a result of too many or too few atmospheric rivers (ARs). This study analyzes a two-decade-long hourly precipitation dataset from 176 California weather stations and a 3-hourly AR chronology to report variations in rainfall events across California and their association with ARs. On average, 10-40 and 60-120 hours of rainfall in southern and northern California, respectively, are responsible for more than half of annual rainfall accumulations. Approximately 10-30% of annual precipitation at locations across the state is from only one large storm. On average, northern California receives 25-45 rainfall events annually (40-50% of which are AR-related). These events typically have longer durations and higher event-precipitation totals than those in southern California. Northern California also receives more AR landfalls with longer durations and stronger Integrated Vapor Transport (IVT). On average, ARs contribute 79%, 76%, and 68% of extreme-rainfall accumulations (i.e., top 5% events annually) in the north coast, northern Sierra, and Transverse Ranges of southern California, respectively.
Keywords:

Aquatic Science Water Science And Technology Water Science And Technology Water Science And Technology
Source:

San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 16(4)
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2018v16iss4art1
ISSN:

1546-2366 ; 1546-2366
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

California Digital Library (CDL)
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA11OAR4310150
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:aa5740fce146831a3a97166a5da69c7dd70d7b71f1d75199d65870a676faf27a7f8072a66f324b3392072afa4764da2e32278ccda4a0ecc0db11cb1b273bd5f1
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/63689/noaa_63689_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 5.84 MB ]

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