How much Northern Hemisphere precipitation is associated with extratropical cyclones?

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 39; no. 24
• Main Authors: Hawcroft, M. K., Shaffrey, L. C., Hodges, K. I., Dacre, H. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 28.12.2012; American Geophysical Union; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Atmospheric sciences; Climate science; Climatology; Cyclones; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; ERA-Interim; Exact sciences and technology; extratropical cyclones; Geophysics; GPCP; Northern Hemisphere; Precipitation; Remote sensing; Spatial distribution; Storms; Tracking; algorithms; Climatology; Extratropical cyclone; projects; Northern Hemisphere; atmospheric precipitation; Severe weather; socioeconomic impacts; Reanalysis; global; spatial distribution; storms
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2012GL053866

Extratropical cyclones are often associated with heavy precipitation events and can have major socio‐economic impacts. This study investigates how much of the total precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere is associated with extratropical cyclones. An objective feature tracking algorithm is used to locate cyclones and the precipitation associated with these cyclones is quantified to establish their contribution to total precipitation. Climatologies are produced from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) daily dataset and the ERA‐Interim reanalysis. The magnitude and spatial distribution of cyclone associated precipitation and their percentage contribution to total precipitation is closely comparable in both datasets. In some regions, the contribution of extratropical cyclones exceeds 90/85% of the total DJF/JJA precipitation climatology. The relative contribution of the most intensely precipitating storms to total precipitation is greater in DJF than JJA. The most intensely precipitating 10% of storms contribute over 20% of total storm associated precipitation in DJF, whereas they provide less than 15% of this total in JJA. Key Points Extratropical cyclones contribute over 50% of NH precipitation Cyclones contribute up to 90/85% of precipitation in some regions in DJF/JJA The most intense storms contribute significantly to the total climatology