Assessment of Influences of Climate Variability on Storm Event Characteristics

Internal modes of climate variability defined as teleconnections have known to have an effect on precipitation extremes relating to magnitude and frequency. Evaluation of influences of climate variability on storm event characteristics, especially the interevent time definition (IETD) defined by minimum dry period between storm events is the main focus of the study. Storm event totals, duration of the events, and interevent time (gap between any two events) are evaluated in this study for different values of IETD. Historical precipitation data available in the form of gridded spatially interpolation data is utilized for this study. Time slices associated with climatic multi-decadal Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) cycles or phases are used for the assessment of the variability of storm event characteristics. Gridded bias correction and spatial disaggregation (BCSD) precipitation data set from 1950-1999 at 1/8° spatial resolution for the state of Florida is used for the analysis. Preliminary analysis reported in this paper suggests interevent durations and precipitation depths (storm totals) are higher in AMO warm phase compared with those from cool phase when IETD is more than equal to three days. The mean value of duration between any two events decreased in the recent two decades. Spatial variability of storm totals is evident when these totals are compared from two phases.