Water Vapor Fluxes and Orographic Precipitation over Northern California Associated with a Landfalling Atmospheric River

Abstract

Atmospheric rivers accompanying Pacific storm systems play an important role in supplying moisture to the West Coast. Heavy precipitation associated with these systems falls not only along the west-facing slopes of the Coastal Range but also along the windward slopes of the interior Sierra Mountains. Simulations of the 29–31 December 2005 storm in northern California using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were able to realistically resolve the structure and strength of the water vapor fluxes over ocean and land. The cross-barrier, southwesterly water vapor fluxes, peaking near 700 kg m−1 s−1 at the coast, dominated the airmass transformation over the northern California mountain complex. However, there was also significant northward water vapor flux along the base of the Sierras. The combination of a narrow, short-lived water vapor source from the atmospheric river, the gap in terrain facilitating flow around the coastal mountains, and the occurrence of a strong barrier jet at the base of the Sierras all contributed to the northward along-barrier water vapor fluxes within the storm. The coincident timing of the maximum water vapor flux into the central valley with the period when the barrier jet was well developed yielded up valley fluxes >300 kg m−1 s−1 for several hours. For the 29–31 December 2005 Pacific storm, the flow around the coastal terrain and up valley replenished about a quarter of the depleted water vapor lost over the coastal mountains.