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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: 200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025

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 010212_0 010312_1 011112_0 041312_0 050212_0 051212_1 051312_2 051412_2 051912_0 052612_2 052612_3 052612_4 052712_1 052812_0 052812_1 052912_4 060312_3 060412_1 060912_2 061012_1 061112_0 061312_0 062212_3 062312_0 062312_2 062412_2 062512_0 062612_1 062912_0 070312_3 070312_5 071012_1 071112_1 071212_1 071712_2 072112_0 073112_3 080212_3 080312_2 080312_3 080412_3 080412_5 080512_0 080512_3 080612_1 080712_1 080712_2 081012_0 081212_0 082112_0 082212_0 082212_2 082312_1 082412_1 082512_3 083112_1 090312_0 090412_0 090712_0 092312_0 100112_0 100312_1 100512_1 100912_0 101312_0 101412_0 102612_1 102712_1 102812_0 111712_0 120412_1 121812_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.