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A series of precipitation events impacted the Pacific Northwest during the first two weeks of November 2006. This sequence was punctuated by a particularly potent inland-penetrating atmospheric river (AR) that produced record-breaking precipitation across the region during 5-7 November. The precipitation caused destructive flooding as far inland as Montana's Glacier National Park, 800 km from the Pacific Ocean. This study investigates the inland penetration of moisture during the event using a 4-1.33-km grid spacing configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system. A high-resolution simulation allowed an analysis of interactions between the strong AR and terrain features such as the Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River Gorge (CR Gorge). Moisture transport in the vicinity of the Cascades is assessed using various metrics. The most efficient pathway for moisture penetration was through the gap (i.e., CR Gap) between Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood, which includes the CR Gorge. While the CR Gap is a path of least resistance through the Cascades, most of the total moisture transport that survived transit past the Cascades overtopped the mountain barrier itself. This is due to the disparity between the length of the ridge (~800 km) and relatively narrow width of the CR Gap (~93 km). Moisture transport reductions were larger across the Washington Cascades and the southern-central Oregon Cascades than through the CR Gap. During the simulation, drying ratios through the CR Gap (9.3%) were notably less than over adjacent terrain (19.6%-30.6%). Drying ratios decreased as moisture transport intensity increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are a dominant mechanism for generating intense wintertime precipitation along the U.S. West Coast. While studies over the past 10 years have explored the impact of ARs in, and west of, California's Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Mountains, their influence on the weather across the intermountain west remains an open question. This study utilizes gridded atmospheric datasets, satellite imagery, rawinsonde soundings, a 449-MHz wind profiler and global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and operational hydrometeorological observing networks to explore the dynamics and inland impacts of a landfalling, flood-producing AR across Arizona in January 2010. Plan-view, cross-section, and back-trajectory analyses quantify the synoptic and mesoscale forcing that led to widespread precipitation across the state. The analyses show that a strong AR formed in the lower midlatitudes over the northeastern Pacific Ocean via frontogenetic processes and sea surface latent-heat fluxes but without tapping into the adjacent tropical water vapor reservoir to the south. The wind profiler, GPS, and rawinsonde observations document strong orographic forcing in a moist neutral environment within the AR that led to extreme, orographically enhanced precipitation. The AR was oriented nearly orthogonal to the Mogollon Rim, a major escarpment crossing much of central Arizona, and was positioned between the high mountain ranges of northern Mexico. High melting levels during the heaviest precipitation contributed to region-wide flooding, while the high-altitude snowpack increased substantially. The characteristics of the AR that impacted Arizona in January 2010, and the resulting heavy orographic precipitation, are comparable to those of landfalling ARs and their impacts along the west coasts of midlatitude continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]