| Abstract: | Influences of upper air characteristics along the coast of California upon wintertime (November-April) precipitation in the Sierra Nevada are investigated. Precipitation events in the Sierra Nevada region occur mostly during wintertime, irrespective of station location (leeside or wihdside) and elevation. Most precipitation episodes in the region are associated with moist southwesterly winds (coming from the southwest direction) and also tend to occur when the 700-mbar temperature at the upwind direction is close to -2??C. This favored wind direction and temperature signify the importance of both moisture transport and orographic lifting in augmenting precipitation in the region. By utilizing the observed dependency of the precipitation upon the upper air conditions, a linear model is formulated to quantify the precipitation observed at different sites as a function of moisture transport. The skill of the model increases with timescale of aggregation, reaching more than 50% variance explained at an aggregation period of 5-7 days. This indicates that upstream air moisture transport can be used to estimate the precipitation totals in the Sierra Nevada region. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70020924 |
| Citation Author: | Pandey, G. R.; Cayan, D. R.; Georgakakos, K. P. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | |
| Citation Datum: | |
| Citation Day: | |
| Citation Edition: | |
| Citation Editor: | |
| Citation End Page: | 12030 |
| Citation Issue: | D10 |
| Citation Keywords: | |
| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres |
| Citation LatN: | |
| Citation LatS: | |
| Citation LonE: | |
| Citation LonW: | |
| Citation Month: | |
| Citation No Pagination: | |
| Citation Number Of Pages: | 12 |
| Citation Online Only Flag: | |
| Citation Phsyical Description: | |
| Citation Projection: | |
| Citation Public Comments: | |
| Citation Publisher: | |
| Citation Series: | |
| Citation Series Code: | |
| Citation Series Number: | |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Precipitation structure in the Sierra Nevada of California during winter; 1999; Article; Journal; Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres; Pandey, G. R.; Cayan, D. R.; Georgakakos, K. P. |
| Citation Start Page: | 12019 |
| Citation Volume: | 104 |
| Citation Year: | 1999 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Precipitation structure in the Sierra Nevada of California during winter; 1999; Article; Journal; Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres; Pandey, G. R.; Cayan, D. R.; Georgakakos, K. P. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| Date Other: | Fri, 1 Jan 1999 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | |
