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- A12H-01: Spatial Scales of Daily Extreme Precipitation in the US: Climatology, Trends, and Relationships to Intensity
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Board 2144‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)NOLA CC
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Trinish Chatterjee, Columbia University (First Author, Presenting Author)
Radley Horton, Columbia University
Danielle Touma, University of Texas at Austin
Adam Sobel, Columbia University of New York
Extreme rainfall events that spread over large areas are becoming a bigger threat to emergency response, flood protection systems, and public safety. Unlike isolated storms that affect one location, these widespread events can overwhelm disaster management systems by affecting multiple watersheds, jurisdictions, and critical infrastructure all at once. In this study, we look at how the spatial size of these extreme daily rainfall events has changed across the United States from 1980 to 2024. We find that just 20% of the biggest daily extreme precipitation events are responsible for nearly 80% of the total area affected by extreme precipitation. The largest extreme events also happen during different times of year than smaller events in most regions. In the Eastern US, recent increases in extreme rainfall are mostly caused by these large, widespread events, as opposed to by local storms. These big extreme rainfall events also tend to be more intense than small events. This raises the possibility of a 'double threat' of extreme rainfall events being both more intense and more widespread at once. This has important implications for emergency planners and infrastructure designers.
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