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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).

   
010112_0 010412_0 011012_0 011112_0 022512_0 022612_0 041412_0 050812_1 051112_0 051212_1 051312_3 051912_2 052512_1 052512_3 052612_0 052612_1 052712_0 052812_0 052912_0 060212_2 060312_1 060812_4 060912_3 061012_1 061112_0 061212_1 061312_1 061712_3 061812_1 062112_5 062212_2 062312_3 062412_2 062512_0 062512_1 062912_3 070112_1 070212_5 070312_2 070712_1 070912_1 070912_5 071012_0 071112_1 071312_2 071412_0 071612_2 071612_4 071712_2 072012_0 072112_2 072512_1 072912_2 073112_5 080112_3 080212_2 080312_2 080412_2 080412_4 080512_0 080512_1 080512_3 080612_1 080612_2 080612_3 080612_6 080712_1 080812_5 080912_0 081112_0 082012_0 082112_0 082112_1 082212_0 082412_0 082512_3 082612_0 082712_0 082812_2 083012_0 090212_0 090312_1 090412_1 090712_1 091812_1 092212_1 092312_2 100212_1 100312_0 100512_0 100512_1 101312_0 102512_3 102612_2 102912_0 111612_0 111712_0 120712_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.