Webinar #49 - Thursday, June 23, 2016

Weather, climate and extremes in the western U.S.

Nina Oakley
Western Regional Climate Center
Reno, NV


(biography)

The Western Regional Climate Center services 11 western states including Alaska, Hawaii, and the US API. Our region boasts a diversity of climates including both hot and cold deserts, temperate and tropical rainforests, and alpine tundra. The main drivers of climate in much of the West are its latitudinal range, proximity to the vast Pacific Ocean, cool coastal currents, and abundance of mountainous terrain.

The West is also home to a variety of extreme weather phenomena that are often distinct from the tornados, hurricanes, and blizzards observed in the central and eastern parts of the country. Narrow corridors of high water vapor transport called atmospheric rivers produce intense rainfall and flooding when they encounter the rugged terrain of the West Coast. Extreme terrain-enhanced winds are also a common hazard during the passage of frontal systems. Wintertime inversions that induce hazardous air quality are commonplace in populated basins of the Intermountain West. Dangerous flash flooding occurs frequently in the Southwest and Great Basin during the summer when the North American Monsoon kicks in, and dying tropical storms have been known to brush the Southwest inducing heavy rainfall.

This presentation will explain the drivers of weather and climate of WRCC’s region within the conterminous US as well as explore some of its exciting extreme events! 




View the Webinar by clicking here: https://youtu.be/kWCmspgIf2s



View Nina's presentation slides (17.1MB)





Resources:

Western Regional Climate Center