Jason M. Cordeira

Characteristics, Impacts, and Historical Perspectives of Atmospheric Rivers along the U.S. East Coast during Winter 2023–2024.

Jason M. Cordeira1, Nicholas D. Metz2, Xun Zou1, Emily A. Slinskey1, and F. Martin Ralph1

1 Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

2 Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. have a high number of extreme high streamflow days and floods by watershed as compared to the rest of the U.S. with a significant increasing trend in flood magnitudes due to climate change. This region of the U.S. is particularly susceptible to both warm-season flash flooding and cool-season “compound” flooding due to snow and ice cover, with the latter closely related to atmospheric rivers (ARs).

Recent  research has demonstrated that ARs are as frequent or more frequent across the Northeast U.S. as compared to the Western U.S. Along with an increased frequency, previous studies have shown that >30% of non-summer precipitation can be related to ARs in this region, including >90% of non-summer extreme precipitation, >85% of flood/flash flood watches, warnings, and advisories, and 95% of ice jam and related flood events.

This presentation focuses on the characteristics, impacts, and historical perspectives of East Coast ARs from the lens of several ARs during Winter 2023–2024 that produced widespread heavy precipitation and compound flooding, along with high winds, storm surge, and power outages. The results will focus on a series of five East Coast ARs between during December 2023–January 2024, with particular emphasis on the impacts of two extreme events on 18 December 2023 and 10 January 2024.