A new study examined decades of atmospheric river storms across the West Coast to pinpoint the conditions that lead to catastrophic flooding. The research, published June 4 in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, analyzed more than 43,000 atmospheric river storms across 122 watersheds on the West Coast between 1980 and 2023.
The research used satellite imagery to identify where winter flooding occurs, which can improve flood risk awareness and inform how to best redirect floodwaters to replenish groundwater supplies.
A new study published in Nature Communications utilizes insights gleaned from DRI’s Mountain Rain or Snow project to evaluate why traditional weather forecasting struggles to identify the rain/snow transition line. The research was possible because thousands of community members across the U.S. contributed more than 40 thousand observations of the type of precipitation falling at their location.