Heavy and widespread rainfall during landfalling tropical cyclones can cause severe damage, large financial losses, and the loss of life. In 2017 and 2018 alone, U.S. landfalling hurricanes contributed to more than 3,000 deaths and $300 billion in damages.
MAPP's Fall 2019 Newsletter is here! Read up on what's happening in the program this quarter, including research highlights!
With precipitation in the midlatitudes predominantly produced in extratropical cyclones, research efforts have strived to find new ways of evaluating and analyzing model precipitation errors. However, due to the sheer number of processes involved in the production of precipitation, it is a difficult parameter to model.
During the winter of 2014 and 2015, the US west coast (USWC) experienced record high temperatures extending from Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska. This record warming, as high as 3°C in some areas, greatly impacted the California Current System (CCS) and Gulf of Alaska marine ecosystems. However, tropical Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies were weak during 2014, calling into question their role in the USWC warming period.
A new review paper describes how MAPP-funded and organized work has contributed to recent progress in understanding tropical cyclones.
Americans’ health, security and economic wellbeing are tied to climate and weather. Every day, we see communities grappling with environmental challenges due to unusual or extreme events related to climate and weather.