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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).

   
25010318 25010718 25020212 25020500 25022012 25030118 25031606 25031618 25033000 25042112 25042418 25042606 25042806 25051118 25060212 25060306 25060400 25060406 25060912 25061100 25061212 25061218 25061312 25061318 25061406 25061506 25062112 25062306 25062406 25062500 25062506 25062600 25062800 25062806 25062906 25062912 25070306 25070312 25070412 25070500 25070506 25070512 25070700 25070706 25070900 25071312 25071406 25071500 25071506 25071512 25071806 25072012 25072106 25072512 25072606 25072712 25072800 25072806 25072912 25073106 25080100 25080106 25080118 25080206 25080306 25080312 25080600 25080812 25081006 25081300 25081312 25081606 25081712 25081900 25081906 25081918 25082306 25082500 25082606 25082618 25082700 25082706 25082712 25082800 25082806 25083000 25083018 25090200 25090600 25090612 25090712 25090818 25091118 25091306 25091318 25091400 25091500 25091906 25092200 25092212 25092218 25092700 25100418 25101218 25102700 25102706

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.