Multiscale Aspects of the Storm Producing the June 2013 Flooding in Uttarakhand, India

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Monthly Weather Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-17-0004.1· OSTI ID:1405222

Houze, Jr., R. A. ^[1]; McMurdie, L. A. ^[2]; Rasmussen, K. L. ^[3]; Kumar, A. ^[4]; Chaplin, M. M. ^[2]

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1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington
2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
3. Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland

Conditions producing disastrous flooding in Uttarakhand, India, in June 2013 differed from conditions that produced other notorious floods in the Himalayan region in recent years. During the week preceding the Uttarakhand flood, deep convection moistened the mountainsides, making them vulnerable to flooding. However, the precipitation producing the flood was not associated with a deep convective event. Rather, an eastward-propagating upper-level trough in the westerlies extended abnormally far southward, with the jet reaching the Himalayas. The south end of the trough merged with a monsoon low moving westward across India. The merged system produced persistent moist low-level flow oriented normal to the Himalayas that advected large amounts of water vapor into the Uttarakhand region. The flow was moist neutral when it passed over the Himalayan barrier, and orographic lifting produced heavy continuous rain over the region for 2–3 days. The precipitation was largely stratiform in nature although embedded convection of moderate depth occurred along the foothills, where some mild instability was being released. The Uttarakhand flood had characteristics in common with major 2013 floods in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Alberta, Canada.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: Task order 292896 (agreement 243766)
• OSTI ID: 1405222
• Journal Information: Monthly Weather Review, Journal Name: Monthly Weather Review Vol. 145 Journal Issue: 11; ISSN 0027-0644
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English