Periodic 18.6‐year and cyclic 10 to 11 year signals in northeastern United States precipitation data

Abstract

Abstract Evidence for a narrow band‐limited signal with period near 18.6‐years is found in 126 out of 136 yearly total precipitation records, and in 1531 out of 1668 monthly records in the northeastern United States. From 1840 to near the end of the 19th century, rainfall minima in the wavetrain are highly correlated with tidal maxima of the 18.6‐year luni‐solar tide, the twelfth largest tidal constituent in Newton's theory; the wavetrain then switched phase by 180° and for most of the 20th century rainfall maxima are correlated with tidal maxima at 1917.5, 1936.1, 1954.7, and 1973.3. This bistable phenomenon of atmospheric science was discovered by Currie (1983) in a study of tree‐rings from the Patagonian Andes, and O'Brien and Currie (1988) have suggested a dynamical explanation in terms of mathematical physics. In terms of yearly rainfall, the mean percentage amplitude modulation of the wave was near ±6% until 1940 after which it began to increase rapidly, reaching ±10% in the 1960s and 1970s. These results provide a rational explanation for the severe water shortage crisis that occurred at tidal minimum 1964.0 (Namias, 1966; 1967), and reoccurred 19 years later. In addition, a smaller band‐limited term with period 10 to 11‐years is found in a little more than half of the records.