The Development of an Urban Rain Rate Dashboard (URRD) | CU Experts

Abstract; ; Urban areas are at an increased risk for flash flooding due to the vast coverage of impervious surfaces. Yet, forecasting the small-scale, high-impact events that can lead to flash flooding in urban areas remains a challenge. Numerical weather prediction models and ensemble systems provide guidance for forecasting these types of events, with convection-allowing ensembles aiding in prediction greatly in recent years. This study presents a new experimental decision support tool called the Urban Rain Rate Dashboard (URRD) that was created for the purpose of assessing the probability of heavy rainfall that could lead to urban flooding over a given time period. The URRD processes various ensembles of numerical weather prediction models to find a probability of an urban flooding event occurring in various cities across the contiguous United States. The 50 most populous cities in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) were chosen, plus an additional 17 cities to ensure that each state is touched by a metropolitan area included in the dashboard. The guidance from the URRD is available for the next 60 hours (short-term) or Days 4-7 (long-term). Additionally, city-specific information is available to users, allowing them to tailor the presentation of the dashboard to their specific city’s needs. The experimental website can be found at; https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/urrd/; , where live data is available every day.;

Bower E; Bright D; King A; Nelson JA; Novak DR; Semmens K; Carr RH; Maxfield K; Montz B; Painter P

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