Articles | Volume 20, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1931-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1931-2020
Brief communication
 | 
06 Jul 2020
Brief communication |  | 06 Jul 2020

Brief Communication: An electrifying atmospheric river – understanding the thunderstorm event in Santa Barbara County during March 2019

Deanna Nash and Leila M. V. Carvalho

Data sets

LIS/OTD Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Collection Version 2.3.2015 D. J. Cecil https://doi.org/10.5067/LIS/LIS-OTD/DATA311

NOAA GOES-R Series Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Level 2 Cloud and Moisture Imagery Products (CMIP) Band 13 GOES-R Algorithm Working Group and GOES-R Series Program https://doi.org/10.7289/V5736P36

MERRA-2 inst6_3d_ana_Np: 3d, 6-Hourly, Instantaneous, Pressure-Level, Analysis, Analyzed Meteorological Fields V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/A7S6XP56VZWS

NOAA Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) Level 3 Products Hail Signatures and One-Hour Precipitation National Weather Service (NWS) Radar Operations Center https://doi.org/10.7289/V5W9574V

Earth Networks Global Lightning Network Earth Networks https://www.earthnetworks.com/product/weather-sensors/lightning/

The NCEP climate forecast system version 2 (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/climate-forecast-system-version2-cfsv2) S. Saha, S. Moorthi, X. Wu, J. Wang, S. Nadiga, P. Tripp, D. Behringer, Y. Hou, H. Chuang, M. Iredell, M. Ek, J. Meng, R. Yang, M. P. Mendez, H. van den Dool, Q. Zhang, W. Wang, M. Chen, and E. Becker https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00823.1

AR Catalog: AR Reanalysis Databases B. Guan https://ucla.app.box.com/v/ARcatalog

Model code and software

Code for AR Thunderstorm - March 2019 D. Nash https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3885717

MetPy: A Python Package for Meteorological Data R. May, S. Arms, P. Marsh, E. Bruning, and J. Leeman https://doi.org/10.5065/D6WW7G29

Video supplement

GOES-17 ABI L2+ Cloud and Moisture Imagery Brightness Temperature: 4-6 March 2019 D. Nash https://doi.org/10.5446/43737

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Short summary
On 6 March 2019, during an atmospheric river (AR) event, over 8000 lightning flashes were recorded near southern California in under 24 h, resulting in a unique meteorological event for this region. This study examines the characteristics of this AR compared to previous landfalling ARs in Santa Barbara and explores how the conditions led to the formation of hail and enhanced electrification in a region that sees little to no lightning.
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