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.

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