Trends in tropical cyclone precipitation over the eastern United States

Tropical cyclones of all scales can have significant socio-economic impacts that affect not only local governments, but also an entire state or region. These impacts are well documented, and often include the damage caused by heavy precipitation. However, what is not well documented are the longer term trends associated with tropical cyclone induced precipitation. This study attempts to identify the trends associated with storm-total and storm-area precipitation, for the eastern coasts of the United States and China. A statistical technique was created, to identify for any given day, those stations that were affected by tropical cyclone precipitation. Daily precipitation from the United States and Chinese networks were interpolated using an inverse-distance weighted algorithm to a 0.5 x 0.5-degree grid. These daily precipitation grid nodes were used to integrate total precipitation and total area affected for each tropical cyclone. The trends in precipitation and area coverage of precipitation were identified for various periods and geographic regions. These trends can be used to assess future impacts and policies associated with tropical cyclones.