Simulating extreme precipitation over the Arabian Peninsula using a convective-permitting sub-seasonal reforecast product

Despite being one of the driest places in the world, the Arabian Peninsula (AP) occasionally experiences extreme precipitation events associated with organized convections. On 25 November 2009, for instance, a cutoff low driven rainfall exceeding 140 mm over a 6-hour period triggered a flash flood event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, claiming hundreds of lives and substantially damaging infrastructure. Similar extreme precipitation events have occurred in subsequent years. To assess the potential predictability of extreme precipitation in the Arabian Peninsula, we perform retrospective forecast simulations for several extreme events occurring over the period 2000 to 2018, out to a sub-seasonal timescale (3-4 weeks). Using the Advanced Research version of Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF-ARW), we dynamically downscale 11 ensemble members of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) sub-seasonal reforecasts at convective-permitting resolution (4 km). WRF simulated precipitation is evaluated against various precipitation products, including the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) system, Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH), and the Saudi Ministry of Water and Electricity(MOWE) and the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment(PME) regional rain gauge measurements. The convective-permitting WRF simulations substantially improve the representation of precipitation relative to the ECMWF reforecast, in terms of spatial distribution and timing. A specific focus in the presentation of the results will be on the potential value added by the use of convective-permitting modeling (CPM) to forecasting extreme events at sub-seasonal timescales. The predictability of the synoptic pattern could be the key for CPM sub-seasonal-type forecast for the AP.

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The effect of climate change on urban drainage: an evaluation based on regional climate model simulations

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2006.592 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 54 (6-7) ◽

pp. 9-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

M. Grum ◽

A.T. Jørgensen ◽

R.M. Johansen ◽

J.J. Linde

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Climate Model ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Rain Gauge ◽

Urban Drainage ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Rainfall Extremes ◽

The Future ◽

Precipitation Events

That we are in a period of extraordinary rates of climate change is today evident. These climate changes are likely to impact local weather conditions with direct impacts on precipitation patterns and urban drainage. In recent years several studies have focused on revealing the nature, extent and consequences of climate change on urban drainage and urban runoff pollution issues. This study uses predictions from a regional climate model to look at the effects of climate change on extreme precipitation events. Results are presented in terms of point rainfall extremes. The analysis involves three steps: Firstly, hourly rainfall intensities from 16 point rain gauges are averaged to create a rain gauge equivalent intensity for a 25 × 25 km square corresponding to one grid cell in the climate model. Secondly, the differences between present and future in the climate model is used to project the hourly extreme statistics of the rain gauge surface into the future. Thirdly, the future extremes of the square surface area are downscaled to give point rainfall extremes of the future. The results and conclusions rely heavily on the regional model's suitability in describing extremes at time-scales relevant to urban drainage. However, in spite of these uncertainties, and others raised in the discussion, the tendency is clear: extreme precipitation events effecting urban drainage and causing flooding will become more frequent as a result of climate change.

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EXTREME EVENTS OF PRECIPITATION AND OCCURRENCES OF FLOODING, RUNOFF AND INUNDATION IN THE METROPOLITAN REGION OF CURITIBA, BRAZIL

Geografia em Questão ◽

10.48075/geoq.v14i02.25902 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Nathan Felipe da Silva Caldana ◽

Leonardo Rodrigues ◽

Luis Gustavo Batista Ferreira ◽

Marcelo Augusto De Aguiar e Silva

Keyword(s):

Extreme Events ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Severe Damage ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Urban And Rural Areas ◽

Precipitation Events

Extreme precipitation events cause severe damage in both urban and rural areas. The objective of this work was to analyze rainfall variability, understand the dynamics of extreme precipitation events and to find out the occurrence of floods, runoff and inundation in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (MRC). Data from 39 rainfall stations distributed in the MRC area were used, as well as data by municipality of occurrence of flooding, runoff or inundation, from 1976 to 2018. Extreme precipitation events were identified in all months, most frequently in the summer. Totaling 48 decrees of emergency or public calamity and 397,516 people affected by one of the three socioenvironmental disasters.

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Extreme precipitation events during the South Asian summer monsoon season in the past century

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-6418 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Renaud Falga ◽

Chien Wang

Keyword(s):

South Asian ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Past Century ◽

South Asian Summer Monsoon ◽

The South ◽

The Past ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Precipitation Events

The South Asian monsoon system impacts the livelihoods of over a billion people. While the overall monsoon rainfall is believed to have decreased during the 20th century, there is a good agreement that the extreme precipitation events have been rising in some parts of India. As an important part of the Indian population is dependent on rainfed agriculture, such a rise in extremes, along with resulting flood events, can be all the more problematic. Although studies tend to link this rise in extreme events with anthropogenic forcing, some uncertainties remain on the exact causes. In order to examine the correlation between anthropogenic forcings and the different trends in extreme events, we have analyzed the high-resolution daily rainfall data in the past century delivered by the Indian Meteorological Department alongside several other economic and ecological estimates. The results from this analysis will be presented in detail.

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Evaluating the skill of satellite data on the individuation of extreme precipitation events in Calabria (southern Italy)

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3071 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tommaso Caloiero ◽

Roberto Coscarelli ◽

Giulio Nils Caroletti

Keyword(s):

Satellite Data ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Rain Gauge ◽

Precipitation Event ◽

The European Union ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Daily Data ◽

Precipitation Events

In this study, the skill of TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) data to locate spatially and temporally extreme precipitation has been tested over Calabria, a region in southern Italy.Calabria is a very challenging region for hydrometeorology studies, as i) it is a mainly mountainous region with complex orography; ii) it is surrounded by sea, providing&#160; an abundance of available moisture; iii) it belongs to the Mediterranean region, a hot-spot for climate change.TMPA, which provides daily data at a 0.25&#176; resolution (i.e., about 25 km at southern Italy latitudes), was tested with regards to three extreme precipitation events that occurred between 1998 and 2019, i.e., the years of TMPA&#8217;s operational time frame. The first event, taking place on 07-12/09/2000, lasted for several days and involved most of Calabria. The second (01-04/07/2006) was a very localized midsummer event, which hit a very small area with destructive consequences. Finally, the 18-27/11/2013 event was a ten-day long heavy precipitation event that hit the region in spots.TMPA daily data were compared against validated and homogenized rain gauge data from 79 stations managed by the Multi-Risk Functional Centre of the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection. TMPA was evaluated both in relative and absolute terms: i) the relative skill was tested by checking if TMPA evaluated correctly the presence of extreme precipitation, defined as daily precipitation passing the 99th percentile threshold; ii) the absolute skill was tested by checking if TMPA reproduced correctly the cumulated precipitation values during the events.TMPA proved sufficiently able to locate areas subject to heavy cumulated precipitation during large spatially distributed events over the region. However, it showed difficulties in reproducing very localized events, as the 2006 case study was not detected at all, showing that 25-km spatial resolution and daily time resolution proved inadequate to resolve this type of rainfall event.Results might give insights into the possibility of using satellite data for real-time monitoring of extreme precipitation, especially since the transition from the old TMPA to the new Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) set was completed in January 2020.&#160;Acknowledgments:The Project INDECIS is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462).

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Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Precipitation Extremities of Eastern Nepal in the Last Two Decades (1997–2016)

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-2784 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sunil Subba ◽

Yaoming Ma ◽

Weiqiang Ma

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ◽

Heavy Precipitation ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Slope Estimator ◽

The Impact ◽

Precipitation Events

In recent days there have been discussions regarding the impact of climate change and its vagaries of the weather, particularly concerning extreme events. Nepal, being a mountainous country, is more susceptible to precipitation extreme events and related hazards, which hinder the socioeconomic development of the nation. In this regard, this study aimed to address this phenomenon for one of the most naturally and socioeconomically important regions of Nepal, namely, Eastern Nepal. The data were collected for the period of 1997 to 2016. The interdecadal comparison for two periods (1997&#8211;2006 and 2007&#8211;2016) was maintained for the calculation of extreme precipitation indices as per recommended by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices. Linear trends were calculated by using Mann&#8208;Kendall and Sen's Slope estimator. The average annual precipitation was found to be decreasing at an alarming rate of &#8722;20 mm/year in the last two decades' tenure. In case of extreme precipitation events, consecutive dry days, one of the frequency indices, showed a solo increase in its trend (mostly significant). Meanwhile, all the intensity indices of extreme precipitation showed decreasing trends (mostly insignificant). Thus, it can be concluded that Eastern Nepal has witnessed some significant drier days in the last two decades, as the events of heavy, very heavy, extremely heavy precipitation events, and annual wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT) were found to be decreasing. The same phenomena were also seen in the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 V7 satellite precipitation product for whole Nepal.

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A Comparison of CMIP3 Simulations of Precipitation over North America with Observations: Daily Statistics and Circulation Features Accompanying Extreme Events

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-12-00374.1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (10) ◽

pp. 3209-3230 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Anthony M. DeAngelis ◽

Anthony J. Broccoli ◽

Steven G. Decker

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climate Model ◽

Heavy Precipitation ◽

Convective Precipitation ◽

Southern Mexico ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Precipitation Events

Abstract Climate model simulations of daily precipitation statistics from the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) were evaluated against precipitation observations from North America over the period 1979–99. The evaluation revealed that the models underestimate the intensity of heavy and extreme precipitation along the Pacific coast, southeastern United States, and southern Mexico, and these biases are robust among the models. The models also overestimate the intensity of light precipitation events over much of North America, resulting in fairly realistic mean precipitation in many places. In contrast, heavy precipitation is simulated realistically over northern and eastern Canada, as is the seasonal cycle of heavy precipitation over a majority of North America. An evaluation of the simulated atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics associated with extreme precipitation events was also conducted using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). The models were found to capture the large-scale physical mechanisms that generate extreme precipitation realistically, although they tend to overestimate the strength of the associated atmospheric circulation features. This suggests that climate model deficiencies such as insufficient spatial resolution, inadequate representation of convective precipitation, and overly smoothed topography may be more important for biases in simulated heavy precipitation than errors in the large-scale circulation during extreme events.

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Spatial Distribution and Temporal Change of Extreme Precipitation Events on the Koshi Basin of Nepal

Journal on Geoinformatics, Nepal ◽

10.3126/njg.v17i1.23007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 38-46

Author(s):

Sanjeevan Shrestha ◽

Tina Baidar

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effect ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Temporal Change ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Increasing Trend ◽

Koshi Basin ◽

Precipitation Events

Climate change, particularly at South Asia region is having a huge impact on precipitation patterns, its intensity and extremeness. Mountainous area is much sensitive to these extreme events, hence having adverse effect on environment as well as people in term of fluctuation in water supply as well as frequent extreme weather events such as flood, landslide etc. So, prediction of extreme precipitation is imperative for proper management. The objective of this study was to assess the spatial distribution and temporal change of extreme precipitation events on Koshi basin of Nepal during 1980-2010. Five indicators (R1day, R5 day, R > 25.4 mm, SDII and CDD) were chosen for 41 meteorological stations to test the extreme events. Inverse distance weighting and kriging interpolation technique was used to interpolate the spatial patterns. Result showed that most extreme precipitation events increased up to mountain regions from low river valley; and then it decreased subsequently up to Himalayan regions (south to north direction). However, there is high value of indices for lowland Terai valley also. Most of the indices have hotspot with higher value at north western and southern part of the study area. For temporal change, most of the extreme precipitation indices showed increasing trend within 30 years’ period. The spatial distribution of temporal change in indices suggests that there is increasing trend in lowland area and decreasing trend in mountainous and Himalayan area. So, adaptive measure should be adopted through proper land use planning, especially at those hotspot areas and their tributaries; to reduce adverse effect of extreme precipitation events.

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Climate change, extreme events, and increased risk of salmonellosis: foodborne diseases active surveillance network (FoodNet), 2004-2014

Environmental Health ◽

10.1186/s12940-021-00787-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Michele E. Morgado ◽

Chengsheng Jiang ◽

Jordan Zambrana ◽

Crystal Romeo Upperman ◽

Clifford Mitchell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Active Surveillance ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

The United States ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Foodborne Diseases ◽

Surveillance Network ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Precipitation Events

Abstract Background Infections with nontyphoidal Salmonella cause an estimated 19,336 hospitalizations each year in the United States. Sources of infection can vary by state and include animal and plant-based foods, as well as environmental reservoirs. Several studies have recognized the importance of increased ambient temperature and precipitation in the spread and persistence of Salmonella in soil and food. However, the impact of extreme weather events on Salmonella infection rates among the most prevalent serovars, has not been fully evaluated across distinct U.S. regions. Methods To address this knowledge gap, we obtained Salmonella case data for S. Enteriditis, S. Typhimurium, S. Newport, and S. Javiana (2004-2014; n = 32,951) from the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), and weather data from the National Climatic Data Center (1960-2014). Extreme heat and precipitation events for the study period (2004-2014) were identified using location and calendar day specific 95th percentile thresholds derived using a 30-year baseline (1960-1989). Negative binomial generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the association between exposure to extreme events and salmonellosis rates. Results We observed that extreme heat exposure was associated with increased rates of infection with S. Newport in Maryland (Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR): 1.07, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.01, 1.14), and Tennessee (IRR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.09), both FoodNet sites with high densities of animal feeding operations (e.g., broiler chickens and cattle). Extreme precipitation events were also associated with increased rates of S. Javiana infections, by 22% in Connecticut (IRR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.35) and by 5% in Georgia (IRR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.08), respectively. In addition, there was an 11% (IRR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.04-1.18) increased rate of S. Newport infections in Maryland associated with extreme precipitation events. Conclusions Overall, our study suggests a stronger association between extreme precipitation events, compared to extreme heat, and salmonellosis across multiple U.S. regions. In addition, the rates of infection with Salmonella serovars that persist in environmental or plant-based reservoirs, such as S. Javiana and S. Newport, appear to be of particular significance regarding increased heat and rainfall events.

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More frequent flash flood events and extreme precipitation favouring atmospheric conditions in temperate regions of Europe

10.5194/hess-2021-628 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Judith Meyer ◽

Malte Neuper ◽

Luca Mathias ◽

Erwin Zehe ◽

Laurent Pfister

Keyword(s):

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Western Europe ◽

Flash Flood ◽

Flash Floods ◽

Water Levels ◽

Specific Humidity ◽

Atmospheric Conditions ◽

Flood Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

Precipitation Events

Abstract. In recent years, flash floods repeatedly occurred in temperate regions of central western Europe. Unlike in Mediterranean catchments, this flooding behaviour is unusual. In the past, and especially in the 1990s, floods were characterized by predictable, slowly rising water levels during winter and driven by westerly atmospheric fluxes (Pfister et al., 2004). The intention of this study is to link the recent occurrence of flash floods in central western Europe to extreme precipitation and specific atmospheric conditions to identify the cause for this apparent shift. Therefore, we hypothesise that an increase in extreme precipitation events has subsequently led to an increase in the occurrence of flash flood events in central western Europe and all that being caused by a change in the occurrence of flash flood favouring atmospheric conditions. To test this hypothesis, we compiled data on flash floods in central western Europe and selected precipitation events above 40 mm h−1 from radar data (RADOLAN, DWD). Moreover, we identified proxy parameters representative for flash flood favouring atmospheric conditions from the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. High specific humidity in the lower troposphere (q ≥ 0.004 kg kg−1), sufficient latent instability (CAPE ≥ 100 J kg−1) and weak deep-layer wind shear (DLS ≤ 10 m s−1) proved to be characteristic for long-lasting intense rainfall that can potentially trigger flash floods. These atmospheric parameters, as well as the flash flood and precipitation events were then analysed using linear models. Thereby we found significant increases in atmospheric moisture contents and increases in atmospheric instability. Parameters representing the motion and organisation of convective systems occurred slightly more often or remained unchanged in the time period from 1981–2020. Moreover, a trend in the occurrence of flash floods was confirmed. The number of precipitation events, their maximum 5-minute intensities as well as their hourly sums were however characterized by large inter-annual variations and no trends could be identified between 2002–2020. This study therefore shows that the link from atmospheric conditions via precipitation to flash floods cannot be traced down in an isolated way. The complexity of interactions is likely higher and future analyses should include other potentially relevant factors such as intra-annual precipitation patterns or catchment specific parameters.

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Contribution of Moisture from Mediterranean Sea to Extreme Precipitation Events over Danube River Basin

Water ◽

10.3390/w10091182 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 1182 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Danica Ciric ◽

Raquel Nieto ◽

Alexandre Ramos ◽

Anita Drumond ◽

Luis Gimeno

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

River Basin ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Extreme Precipitation ◽

Extreme Event ◽

Danube River ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Danube River Basin ◽

Precipitation Events

In the most recent decades, central Europe and the Danube River Basin area have been affected by an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme daily rainfall, which has resulted in the more frequent occurrence of significant flood events. This study characterised the link between moisture from the Mediterranean Sea and extreme precipitation events, with varying lengths that were recorded over the Danube River basin between 1981 and 2015, and ranked the events with respect to the different time scales. The contribution of the Mediterranean Sea to the detected extreme precipitation events was then estimated using the Lagrangian FLEXPART dispersion model. Experiments were modelled in its forward mode, and particles leaving the Mediterranean Sea were tracked for a period of time determined with respect to the length of the extreme event. The top 100 extreme events in the ranking with durations of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 days were analysed, and it was revealed that most of these events occurred in the winter. For extreme precipitation, positive anomalies of moisture support from the Mediterranean were found to be in the order of 80% or more, but this support reached 100% in summer and spring. The results show that extreme precipitation events with longer durations are more influenced by the extreme Mediterranean anomalous moisture supply than those with shorter lengths. However, it is during shorter events when the Mediterranean Sea contributes higher amounts of moisture compared with its climatological mean values; for longer events, this contribution decreases progressively (but still doubles the climatological moisture contribution from the Mediterranean Sea). Finally, this analysis provides evidence that the optimum time period for accumulated moisture to be modelled by the Lagrangian model is that for which the extreme event is estimated. In future studies, this fine characterisation could assist in modelling moisture contributions from sources in relation to individual extreme events.

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