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Monitoring of heavy precipitation events

These images show locations where average recurrence intervals for precipitation have been exceeded. These are referred to, for example, as "100-year rainstorms", though this terminology can cause confusion, so a more accurate description is "less than a 1% probability of occurring at a given location in any given year." This is an automated search for the types of events discussed in Schumacher and Johnson (2005, 2006) and Stevenson and Schumacher (2014), using gridded precipitation analyses, as well as updated to use NOAA's Atlas 14 to define the average recurrence intervals. (In the states of Washington and Oregon, Atlas 14 has not yet been updated, so no points are shown.) Archived images from past events when the thresholds have been exceeded are shown below.

Each dataset has been regridded to a 4-km latitude-longitude grid (the same grid used by the PRISM Climate Group) prior to calculating the exceedance points. This allows for a closer "apples-to-apples" comparison between precipitation datasets. The archive of past events is actively under development; if you don't yet see images for a particular dataset/duration, check back soon! Recent data (e.g., within the current year) has not undergone quality control, so use recent maps with caution.


Select dataset: Stage IVMRMSPRISMCONUS404CoCoRaHS      Current maps  Interactive maps of past events
Select average recurrence interval: 10-year100-year1000-year
Select duration: 72-hour48-hour24-hour6-hour
Select year: 198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022

Left arrow for previous frame, right arrow for next, space to pause/play; click to open image in new tab. Each event is listed as "mmddhh_e" (2-digit month, 2-digit day, 2-digit hour for end of accumulation period, one digit for the event number on this date).

   
020812_0 020812_1 020912_0 041312_0 041512_1 041912_3 050512_2 050612_1 050712_2 051012_0 051012_1 051312_0 051412_0 052112_2 052412_1 052412_3 052512_2 052512_3 052612_2 052712_3 052712_5 052812_1 052812_4 053012_0 060212_1 060412_3 060612_0 060612_1 060812_1 060812_3 061012_1 061212_1 061312_5 061512_2 061612_3 061712_2 061712_4 061812_0 061912_0 062112_2 062212_0 062212_1 062612_0 062712_0 062812_1 063012_0 070412_1 070512_0 070712_1 070712_8 070812_0 070912_0 071412_1 071612_1 071612_3 071812_3 072012_1 072112_1 072212_1 072912_3 073012_0 073112_0 080212_1 080312_0 080412_0 080412_1 080712_1 080812_3 081912_1 082012_5 090512_1 090912_3 091312_4 092312_0 093012_2 100112_2 100212_0 100312_0 100312_1 100412_0 100512_0 102012_2 102112_0 102312_0 102412_0 102512_0 102612_0 102712_0 110212_1 110412_0 110512_0 111012_0 111112_0 111512_0 112912_1 120612_0 120912_0 121012_0 121112_1 122312_0 122512_0 122612_0 122812_1 122912_0

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AGS-2337380. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.



DISCLAIMER: The images and data on this site are intended for meteorological education and research purposes and, although they should generally be up to date, are not monitored at all times. Do not use for making decisions where money or lives are at stake. For official forecasts and warnings, visit the National Weather Service.