Climatology of the seasonal precipitation maximum in the western United States

The western United States is characterized by heterogeneous patterns of seasonal precipitation regimes due to the hierarchy of climatic controls that operate at different spatial scales. A climatology of intermonthly precipitation changes, using data from more than 4,000 stations including high-elevation sites, illustrate how different climatic controls explain the spatial distribution of the seasonal precipitation maximum. These results indicate that smaller-scale climatic controls must be considered along with larger-scale ones to explain patterns of spatial climate heterogeneity over mountainous areas. The results also offer important implications for scholars interested in assessing spatial climatic variations of the western United States at different timescales.

Terrestrial ecosystem response to interdecadal climate variability in the western United States [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): We argue that the most important climatically-driven terrestrial ecosystem changes are concentrated in annual- to decadal-scale episodic events. These rapid ecosystem responses to climate change are manifested as regionally synchronized disturbance events (eg, floods, fires, and insect outbreaks) and increased drought-caused plant mortality rates.

Recent winters in the western United States and relationship to ENSO patterns [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): In the mountainous western United States, winter weather has consequences for the entire year, especially with respect to the use of water. For most of the past 6-8 years, drought has been a persistent feature of the climate.

River salinity variations in response to discharge: examples from the western United States during the early 1900s

Major controls on river salinity (total dissolved solids) in the western United States are climate, geology, and human activity. Climate, in general, influences soil-river salinity via salt-balance variations. When climate becomes wetter, river discharge increases and soil-river salinity decreases; when climate becomes drier river discharge decreases and soil-river salinity increases. This study characterizes the river salinity response to discharge using statistical-dynamic methods. An exploratory analysis of river salinity, using early 1900s water quality surveys in the western United States, shows much river salinity variability is in response to storm and annual discharge. Presumably this is because river discharge is largely supported by surface flow.

Daily rainfall along the United States Pacific Coast appears to conform to a square-root normal probability distribution

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): As part of a study of climatic influences on landslide initiation, a statistical analysis of long-term (>40 years) records of daily rainfall from 24 Pacific coastal stations, from San Diego to Cape Flattery, disclosed an unexpected result - the square root of the daily rainfall closely approximates a normal distribution function. ... This paper illustrates the use of the square-root-normal distribution to analyze variations in precipitation along the mainland United States Pacific Coast with examples of orographic enhancement, rain shadows, and increase in precipitation frequency with geographic latitude.

Decadal hydroclimatic variability in the western coastal United States: temporal and spatial variations in precipitation, streamflow, and lake level

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): We have analyzed streamflow variations recorded at 15 USGS gauging stations in California during the past 90 years or so. The anomalies (departures from the 1960-1990 mean discharge) of streamflow on annual-to-decadal time scales are strongly correlated with precipitation anomalies in each drainage basin. ... Although causes of the decadal climate (precipitation) variability are not known with certainty, the use of streamflow records may help us understand the relative strengths of moisture sources and shift of the jet stream in atmospheric circulation.

Tree-ring reconstructions of winter climate and circulation indices for the southwestern United States

A key to understanding the causes for climate variability lies in understanding how atmospheric circulation influences regional climate. The goal of this research is to investigate the long-term relationships between atmospheric circulation and winter climate in the southwestern United States. Patterns of atmospheric circulation are described by circulation indices, and winter climate is defined as number of days with precipitation and mean maximum temperature for the winter wet season, November through March. Records of both circulation indices and climate variables were reconstructed with tree-ring chronologies for the period 1702-1983. The years of the highest and lowest values of circulation indices and climate variables were compared in order to investigate possible spatial and temporal relationships between extremes in circulation and climate.