Warm-Season Dew Point Temperatures and its Relationship with Atmospheric Rivers in the Northeast U.S.

There has been a lack of studies conducted for the Northeastern United States detailing warm-season (April-September) surface dew point temperatures. This research not only aims to fill these gaps by creating a 30-year dew point climatology (1988-2017), but to further investigate any relationships between mean surface dew point temperatures, atmospheric rivers (ARs), and precipitation totals in this region. The warm season dew point climatology shows that the highest dew point temperatures occurred in July and August, with these dew points generally being higher near the coast. Initial findings from the AR analysis show that the highest number of AR days occurred in July and August, similar to the highest mean dew point temperatures. Additional investigation showed that AR frequency tended to decrease at most stations at lower dew point temperature percentiles. Further analysis showed that precipitation was more likely to occur on days with higher dew point temperatures and the presence of ARs and that these days also tended to see higher precipitation totals.