A Preliminary Summary of Highway 58 and I-5 Flooding Event of October 15, 2015

A Preliminary Summary of Highway 58 and I-5 Flooding Event of October 15, 2015

October 27, 2015

Nina Oakley (WRCC/DRI), Jeremy Lancaster (CGS), John Stock (USGS), Brian Kawzenuk (CW3E), and Mike Kaplan (DRI) provide an analysis and synopsis of the meteorological and geological conditions that produced alluvial fan flooding over portions of Highway 58 and Interstate 5 in southern California. A weakening cutoff low that had entrained subtropical moisture moved onshore over southern California, initiating convection and localized heavy precipitation. Hillslope runoff concentrated in steep valleys where it entrained debris. The debris then flowed onto steep alluvial fans at the base of these valleys, inundating portions of I-5 and State Hwy 58.

Click here for pdf file of this information.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for pdf file of this information.

Improving Understanding of Atmospheric Rivers: Legislation Authorized by California Governor Brown

Improving Understanding of Atmospheric Rivers: Legislation Authorized by California Governor Brown

October 12, 2015

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) is grateful for the approval of legislation that will improve California’s ability to respond to major precipitation episodes. This legislation, recently approved, will aim to allow the state of California to better manage water supplies by expanding climate and weather research that is focused on the causes of drought and flood.

The two images below show an example of research aimed at improving forecasting ability. The two maps show the integrated water vapor (IWV) forecast from February 9, 2014. The top panel shows a CW3E simulation by a regional model (called West-WRF). The bottom panel shows a national forecast by the Global Forecasting System (GFS). The CW3E simulation offers a resolution of 9km while the national forecast is at 0.5 degrees (approximately 100km). This improved model forecast horizontal resolution will allow forecasters to better pinpoint heavy precipitation events aimed at the west coast.

westwrf_forecast_comparison

Please find more at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography news page: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/legislation-improve-understanding-atmospheric-rivers-authorized-governor

Southern California Storm of 18-20 July 2015: A Synopsis of Record Breaking Precipitation

California Storm of 5 January 2016: A Preliminary Synopsis of a Marginal Landfalling Atmospheric River

July 24, 2015

CW3E researcher Brian Kawzenuk provides an analyis and synopsis of an extreme precipitation event over the Southwestern United States during the 18-20 July 2015 period. Former Hurricane Dolores provided high amounts of atmospheric moisture to the Southwestern United States with allowed for multiple showers and thunderstorms to develop on 18 and 19 July 2015. Monthly precipitation records were broken in 48 hours throughout Southern California, which caused multiple landslides and flash floods.


 

The above loop shows MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) true-color during 15-22 July 2015.


 


Above is a sequence of 30-minute NEXRAD radar composite imagery from 18-20 July 2015 which shows the development of multiple thunderstorms.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please click here for pdf file of this information.

California Storm of 10-12 December 2014: A Synopsis Including Landfalling Atmospheric River Conditions

California Storm of 10-12 December 2014: A Synopsis Including Landfalling Atmospheric River Conditions

July 10, 2015

CW3E researcher Brian Kawzenuk provides an analysis and synopsis of an Atmospheric River that made landfall along the U.S. West Coast over the 10-12 December 2014 period. The AR made initial landfall along the Oregon coast and propagated south before dissipating over southern California. Up to 350 mm of 72-hour precipitation was produced in northern California representing up to 45% of total water year to date precipitation. The precipitation from this event provided many drought-stricken California reservoirs with significant amounts of water supply and improved drought conditions throughout northern California.


Above is a sequence of 30-minute NEXRAD radar composite imagery from 10-13 December 2014 which shows the penetration of the heaviest precipitation.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above loop shows the strong atmospheric river making landfall and the associated integrated water vapor (color bar in cm).


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please click here for pdf file of this information.

Climate change intensification of horizontal water vapor transport in CMIP5

CW3E Publication Notice

Climate change intensification of horizontal water vapor transport in CMIP5

June 25, 2015

Lavers, D.A., F.M. Ralph, D.E. Waliser, A. Gershunov, and M.D. Dettinger, 2015: Climate change intensification of horizontal water vapor transport in CMIP5. Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, doi:10.1002/2015GL064672.

Projected multimodel mean changes in the mean, standard deviation, and 95th percentile of winter water vapor transport (over 2073-2099) in the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The multimodel mean percentage changes are shown in the right column. From Lavers et al. (2015).

Research over the last decade has shown that the majority of heavy precipitation and flood events on the western edges of mid-latitude land masses are connected to intense water vapor transport. This vapor transport is found within the atmospheric river region of extratropical cyclones. As climate change is expected to create a warmer atmosphere capable of supporting more water vapor, it is also thought that the global water cycle will intensify leading to more vapor flux and hydrological extremes, such as floods and droughts. Any changes to the water vapor transport by the atmosphere are likely to have hydrological ramifications of great significance to hydrometeorological applications.

The research presented in Lavers et al. (2015) investigates the historical and projected changes to water vapor transport in the latest Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 archive. Using output from 22 models, robust increases in vapor flux by the end of the 21st Century are found, which suggests the likelihood for larger precipitation and floods in the future. This research was a collaborative effort led by CW3E, with the aim of ascertaining the projected global water cycle changes that may need to be considered in the future.

Abstract

Global warming of the Earth’s atmosphere is hypothesized to lead to an intensification of the global water cycle. To determine associated hydrological changes, most previous research has used precipitation. This study, however, investigates projected changes to global atmospheric water vapor transport (integrated vapor transport (IVT)), the key link between water source and sink regions. Using 22 global circulation models from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5, we evaluate, globally, the mean, standard deviation, and the 95th percentiles of IVT from the historical simulations (1979–2005) and two emissions scenarios (2073–2099). Considering the more extreme emissions, multimodel mean IVT increases by 30–40% in the North Pacific and North Atlantic storm tracks and in the equatorial Pacific Ocean trade winds. An acceleration of the high-latitude IVT is also shown. Analysis of low-altitude moisture and winds suggests that these changes are mainly due to higher atmospheric water vapor content.

The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers

CW3E Publication Notice

The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers over Western North America: A Lagrangian Analysis

June 15, 2015

Jonathan J. Rutz, W. James Steenburgh, and F. Martin Ralph, 2015: The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers over Western North America: A Lagrangian Analysis. Mon. Wea. Rev., 143, 1924–1944. (Click here for personal-use pdf file of the article)

Schematic from Rutz et al. (2015) showing the primary pathways for the penetration of 950-hPa AR-related trajectories into the interior of western North America. Pathways associated with regimes 1–3 are represented by green, orange, and purple arrows, respectively. Regions associated with frequent AR decay are shaded in red. Topography is shaded in grayscale. Note that while this schematic highlights common regimes and pathways, individual trajectories follow many different paths.

Although atmospheric rivers (ARs) are typically regarded as coastal events, their impacts can be felt further inland as well. Recent work by Rutz et al. (2015) uses a forward trajectory analysis and AR thresholding criteria to examine the inland penetration of ARs over western North America, and identifies geographic corridors where inland-penetrating ARs are most likely. This paper builds on the earlier work led by Jon Rutz (Rutz and Steenburgh 2012 – Atmos. Sci. Lett., and Rutz et al. 2014 – Mon. Wea. Rev.) as part of his PhD dissertation with Jim Steenburgh at Univ. of Utah. Combined with recent results from Alexander et al. (2015, J. Hydrometeor) that used backward trajectories to examine inland penetration of ARs, as well as earlier studies on Arizona AR events (Neiman et al. 2013, Hughes et al. 2014; both in J. Hydrometeor.) and across the west (Ralph et al. 2014; J. Contemporary Water Resources Research and Education), it is now clear that ARs play a critical role in Western U.S. extreme precipitation, even well inland from the coastal areas where they were first studied. These results improve our understanding of water vapor transport and precipitation over the interior western U.S., and hence contribute to ongoing research interests and efforts at CW3E regarding the causes and prediction of extreme weather and water events across the Western U.S.

Abstract

Although atmospheric rivers (ARs) typically weaken following landfall, those that penetrate inland can contribute to heavy precipitation and high-impact weather within the interior of western North America. In this paper, the authors examine the evolution of ARs over western North America using trajectories released at 950 and 700 hPa within cool-season ARs along the Pacific coast. These trajectories are classified as coastal decaying, inland penetrating, or interior penetrating based on whether they remain within an AR upon reaching selected transects over western North America. Interior-penetrating AR trajectories most frequently make landfall along the Oregon coast, but the greatest fraction of landfalling AR trajectories that eventually penetrate into the interior within an AR is found along the Baja Peninsula. In contrast, interior-penetrating AR trajectories rarely traverse the southern “high” Sierra. At landfall, interior-penetrating AR trajectories are associated with a more amplified flow pattern, more southwesterly (vs westerly) flow along the Pacific coast, and larger water vapor transport (qυ). The larger initial qυ of interior-penetrating AR trajectories is due primarily to larger initial water vapor q and wind speed υ for those initiated at 950 and 700 hPa, respectively.

Inland- and interior-penetrating AR trajectories maintain large qυ over the interior partially due to increases in υ that offset decreases in q, particularly in the vicinity of topographical barriers. Therefore, synoptic conditions and trajectory pathways favoring larger initial qυ at the coast, limited water vapor depletion by orographic precipitation, and increases in υ over the interior are keys to differentiating interior-penetrating from coastal-decaying ARs.

Atmospheric Rivers Workshop: June 15-17, 2015

Atmospheric Rivers Workshop: June 15-17, 2015

June 19, 2015

An atmospheric rivers (AR) workshop was held 15-17 June at the Seaside Forum at UC San Diego/Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). This workshop was sponsored by the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at SIO. Mike Dettinger, David Lavers and Marty Ralph were co-chairs of this workshop. The photo below shows the workshop participants.

Left to right: Jay Jasperse (Sonoma County Water Agency), Jennifer Haase (Scripps), Lauren Muscatine (UC Davis), Brian Kawzenuk (Scripps/CW3E), Tamara Shulgina (Fulbright Scholar at Scripps/CW3E), Sasha Gershunov (Scripps/CW3E), Joel Norris (Scripps and CW3E), Roger Pierce (NOAA/NWS), Harald Sodemann (Univ. of Bergen), Marty Ralph (Scripps/CW3E; Workshop Co-Chair), Nina Oakley (Univ. of Nevada Reno), Mike Dettinger (USGS & Scripps/CW3E; Workshop Co-Chair), Dale Cox (USGS), David Lavers (Scripps/CW3E; Workshop Co-Chair), Jon Rutz (NWS), Jason Cordeira (Plymouth State Univ.), Andrew Martin (Scripps/CW3E), Allen White (NOAA/ESRL), Bin Guan (UCLA), Heini Wernli (ETH Zurich), Larry Schick (US Army Corps of Engineers), Dan Cayan (Scripps/CW3E and USGS), Julie Kalansky (Scripps/CW3E), Ryan Spackman (Science and Technology Corp. and NOAA/ESRL), Maximiliano Viale (Univ. of Chile). Attendees not in picture: Mike Anderson (California Dept. of Water Resources), Bruce Cornuelle (Scripps & CW3E), Duane Waliser (NASA/JPL)

This workshop brought together experts from around the world to survey the current state of atmospheric-river (AR) science and plan the First International Atmospheric Rivers Conference to be held in summer 2016 at Scripps’ Seaside Forum. The group also planned the development of a Monograph on atmospheric rivers that is intended to become the standard reference on the roughly 20 years of AR research. The meeting addressed an outstanding debate in the science community about the physical relationship between ARs, the warm conveyor belt (WCB) in extratropical cyclones and tropical moisture exports (TME) to the extratropics.
The workshop concluded with a plan for the conference in 2016, a strategy for the book, and development of a schematic summary of the relationships between ARs, WCBs and TMEs, each of which plays a critical and complementary role in transporting water vapor through the atmosphere, in terms of horizontal transport and sloped ascent in extratropical cyclones.
The term “atmospheric river” was first coined in 1994 to describe atmospheric water vapor transport across the mid-latitudes. Subsequent research has shown them to be responsible for the majority of extreme hydrologic events in the western United States, Europe, and South America, as well as being critical to water resources in these regions.

For real-time observations and forecasts of atmospheric rivers, please visit the “AR Portal”

Closed Low Event May 6-10: A Preliminary Synopsis

Closed Low Event May 6-10: A Preliminary Synopsis

May 15, 2015

CW3E researcher Nina Oakley provides a preliminary synopsis for a closed low that developed in the Pacific Northwest and moved south along the California/Nevada border over the 6-10 May period. The closed low turned east over southern California with a very cold core moving over a warm surface. The easterly flow produced orographic precipitation on the eastern side of the Sierra with minimal precipitation on the western side of the Sierra. Large areas of the Great Basin experienced precipitation amounts that were not extreme but significant for May.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Climatology of extreme daily precipitation in Colorado

CW3E Publication Notice

Climatology of extreme daily precipitation in Colorado and its diverse spatial and seasonal variability

May 5, 2015

Seasonality of the top 10 daily precipitation events measured at Colorado COOP stations that have at least 30 years of data since 1950. Circles represent totals of 10 events. Seasons shaded as winter (DJF; blue), spring (MAM; yellow), summer (JJA; red), and fall (SON; green). Terrain elevation (m; gray shading) as in legend at left; Continental Divide shown by dashed black line.

The origins of extreme precipitation events in the Western U.S. range from landfalling atmospheric rivers, to the summer monsoon, upslope storms on the Rocky Mountain Front Range, and deep convection of the Great Plains variety. This was shown by an analysis across the west of the seasonality of the top 10 wettest days for each of thousands of COOP observer sites (Ralph et al. 2014**). Each of these sites had at least ~10,000 data points, so these top 10 days represent roughly the top 0.1% of days. Some areas were universally dominated by events in one season, or two. A couple of areas stood out in the diversity of their seasonality of extreme daily precipitation, including Colorado.

The study presented in Mahoney et al. 2015* explores this local variability more deeply, explores how the devastating flood of September 2013 in Colorado’s northern Front Range is related, and describes some of the implications of the findings for flood control and other sensitive sectors. The co-authors represent a diverse group themselves, including climate, weather, hydrology, hydrometeorology expertise from several organizations, (CIRES, NOAA/PSD, Scripps/CW3E and CSU). The paper is highlighted here as it represents an example of work on extreme events in the Western U.S. that the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes is contributing to.

Abstract of Mahoney et al. 2015*: The climatology of Colorado’s historical extreme precipitation events shows a remarkable degree of seasonal and regional variability. Analysis of the largest historical daily-precipitation totals at COOP stations across Colorado by season indicates that the largest recorded daily precipitation totals have ranged from less than 60 mm/day in some areas to greater than 250 mm/day in others. East of the Continental Divide winter events are rarely among the top 10 events at a given site, but spring events dominate in and near the foothills; summer events are most common across the lower-elevation eastern plains, while fall events are most typical for the lower elevations west of the Divide. The seasonal signal in Colorado’s central mountains is complex; high-elevation intense precipitation events have occurred in all months of the year, including summer when precipitation is more likely to be liquid (as opposed to snow) which poses more of an instantaneous flood risk.

*Mahoney, K., F.M. Ralph, K. Wolter, N. Doesken, M. Dettinger, D. Gottas, T. Coleman, and A. White, 2015: Climatology of extreme daily precipitation in Colorado and its diverse spatial and seasonal variability. J. Hydrometeor. 16, 781-792.

** Ralph, F. M., M. Dettinger, A. White, D. Reynolds, D. Cayan, T. Schneider, R. Cifelli, K. Redmond, M. Anderson, F. Gherke, J. Jones, K. Mahoney, L. Johnson, S. Gutman, V. Chandrasekar, J. Lundquist, N.P. Molotch, L. Brekke, R. Pulwarty, J. Horel, L. Schick, A. Edman, P. Mote, J. Abatzoglou, R. Pierce and G. Wick, 2014: A vision for future observations for Western U.S. extreme precipitation and flooding– Special Issue of J. Contemporary Water Resources Research and Education, Universities Council for Water Resources, Issue 153, pp. 16-32.

Sonoma County Water Agency and CW3E — Monitoring sites expected to improve forecast capability

Sonoma County Water Agency and CW3E — Monitoring sites expected to improve forecast capability<

September 2013

South end of Lake Mendocino; September 2013 (photo by Kent Porter / Press Democrat)

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Sean Scully) published an article: “Weather forecasting a key concern for Sonoma County Water Agency”. CW3E is working with the Sonoma County Water Agency and the Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) data to improve forecasts in the region. The data being gathered from HMT will lead to improved forecasting of Atmospheric River (AR) events. These events are significant rain producers in the region and strongly impact how water is managed. Better management would lead to storage that could help prevent extremely low lake levels (as shown at Lake Mendocino above). Please find the full Press Democrat article here.