Comparison of the 2005 US tropical storm and hurricane precipitation fields as examples of national-regional-local scale representativity confidences using observational networks of different spatial densities

In order to assess the amount and quality of precipitation and hydrologic information that is available to decision-makers and emergency management planning personnel, the precipitation fields laid down by the 2005 Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes that impacted the United States are plotted and compared using data from separate NOAA networks. The objective of this test is to determine the nature of the precipitation representativity (accuracies [confidence], stepping [spatial fidelity]) and timeliness of the precipitation measurements obtained from complementary data surface networks of varying station densities. This study provides support that precipitation information needs at national, regional, and local scales can be properly scaled in terms of different decision-maker needs.