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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 IVMRMSPRISMCONUS404      Current maps  Interactive maps of past events
Select average recurrence interval: 10-year100-year1000-year
Select duration: 72-hour48-hour24-hour6-hour
Select year: 20182019202020212022202320242025

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).

   
012912_0 051612_1 051612_2 051712_1 051812_1 051912_1 052112_0 052512_3 052512_5 060112_1 060812_0 060812_4 060912_0 060912_2 060912_4 061012_0 061112_0 061112_3 061212_2 061212_4 061412_3 061512_3 061912_2 062012_3 062112_2 062512_3 062612_0 062612_3 062712_0 062912_0 070212_0 070212_2 070412_4 070712_3 070812_0 071112_3 071212_0 071512_0 071512_5 071612_0 071712_0 071712_3 071812_0 071812_1 071812_3 072012_1 072112_1 072312_0 072412_0 072512_1 072612_1 073112_0 080112_0 080212_1 080812_2 080912_3 081112_0 081112_4 081212_0 081212_3 081312_0 081312_2 081412_0 081512_0 081612_1 081612_4 081812_3 081912_1 081912_2 082012_1 082012_3 082112_3 082112_5 082212_2 082312_0 082312_3 082312_4 082412_0 082512_0 082712_3 082712_4 082812_0 082812_2 082912_3 083012_0 083112_0 083112_6 090112_3 090212_1 090412_2 092012_0 092312_0 092312_1 100312_1 100412_2 100712_0 100912_3 102512_0 102612_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.