S29 Trends of Extreme Precipitation Events in Contiguous US

Sunday, 7 January 2018
Exhibit Hall 5 (ACC) (Austin, Texas)
Christian K. Landry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; and C. J. Schwartz and J. W. Nielsen-Gammon

Trends in Extreme Precipitation Events in Contiguous US
The purpose of this study is to provide comprehensive insight to the trends of extreme precipitation events in the United States, through both county-by-county and grid-based analyses. This study utilizes data taken from the National Centers for Environmental Information ranging from 1890-present, defining positive and negative trends through median dates of occurrences. Statistical significance of this project was evaluated through the implementation of the Mann-Whitney Test. To get a better idea to the causes of these extreme precipitation events, trends were investigated throughout areas with different environmental factors such as orographic forcing and sea breeze convergence. Key findings showed an overall increasing likelihood of extreme precipitation events along the Northeastern seaboard, some negative trends on the West coast, with mixed trends in-between. The evaluation of extreme precipitation on both the grid and county scale is complementary to previous studies of extreme precipitation in the United States.
Members: Christian Landry, Chelsea Schwartz, John Nielsen-Gammon
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