Fewer Troughs, Not More Ridges, Have Led to a Drying Trend in the Western United States

Zhang, Wei; Hari, Vittal; S‐Y Wang, Simon; LaPlante, Matthew D.; Garfin, Gregg; Affram, Grace; Kumar, Rohini

doi:10.1029/2021gl097089

Title: Fewer Troughs, Not More Ridges, Have Led to a Drying Trend in the Western United States

Journal Article · 27 December 2021 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl097089 · OSTI ID:1978525

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^[3]; LaPlante, Matthew D. ^[3];

^[4]; Affram, Grace ^[3];

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Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States); OSTI
UFZ‐Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig (Germany)
Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
UFZ‐Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig (Germany)

High-amplitude ridges can enforce heat-trapping systems that persist through an entire season, contributing to drought events. However, the impacts of day-to-day weather system changes at the meso- and synoptic-scale are also important, albeit less well studied. Here, we identify five weather types (WTs) from 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies. These categories include WT4, which represents ridges and associated dry and warm anomalies, and WT3, which characterizes troughs and associated wetter- and colder-than-normal conditions and is the largest contributor to precipitation in the western U.S. While no discernable trend is evident for WT4 conditions, WT3 conditions have undergone a distinctive decrease in frequency at both annual and seasonal scales, thus a general drying trend across the west during this time period may be more significantly associated with fewer troughs rather than more ridges. Attribution analysis reveals that this decrease in wetter and colder weather is a likely result of anthropogenic forcing.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDA; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0016605

OSTI ID:: 1978525

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 49; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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Title: Fewer Troughs, Not More Ridges, Have Led to a Drying Trend in the Western United States

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