'Trends in Temperature and Precipitation in New England: 1990 to Present'

In the context of anthropogenically driven climate change around the world, it has been of increasing interest what impacts this rapid change has on atmospheric processes. One of these factors includes change in highly-accumulating precipitation occurrences. In many places, particularly New England, the increase of moisture in the air due to higher mean temperatures raises the concern of a greater frequency of higher accumulating precipitation events. This leads to potential impacts such as worsening floods (especially in urban areas where older infrastructure exists) as well as agricultural complications and health risks. During the colder months, this could result in higher snowfall amounts with greater impacts to transportation and commerce.

The goal of this research is to look at New England precipitation trends starting from 1990 up until present day, to observe how the occurrences of 1”+ and 2”+ precipitation events have changed over time. This will be done by utilizing METAR data sourced from Iowa State University for a number of selected cities across New England. Precipitation data will provide quantitative representations through the usage of graphs and tables, which are created in a Python script.

This project is of special importance since a study on precipitation patterns in New England was last conducted by the National Weather Service nearly 20 years ago. Since climate change is ongoing, it is vital to update the data and information on precipitation trends. This data will help the National Weather Service operationally and also guide them in the process of informing public officials.