A Study of Heavy Rainfall Events during the Great Midwest Flood of 1993

Abstract

A synoptic-dynamic climatology was constructed using all 24-h 2-in. (50.8 mm) or greater rainfall events in nine states affected by heavy rains and flooding from June through September 1993 using 6-or 12-h gridded analyses from the Regional Data Assimilation System and geostationary satellite imagery. Each of the 85 events was assigned a category (0-4) based on the areal coverage of the 3-in. (76.2 mm) or greater observed precipitation isohyet. A variety of meteorological fields and rules of thumb used by forecasters at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center are investigated that may help identify the most likely location and scale of a convective precipitation event.