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Upslope Precipitation Events

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Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting

Abstract

Plains on the lee side of mountain ranges in the middle latitudes commonly receive their winter precipitation from circulations that are counter to the climatologically prevailing westerlies; moisture-bearing easterly currents are driven up the slopes of the lee-side plains, toward the mountains, by synoptic circulations. “Upslope storms” have been so named under the presumption that advection over the generally rising terrain induces lifting, cloudiness, and precipitation. This term is inexact; the lifting from low to high plains is more subtle than lifting by mountain ranges, and must be considered relative to superimposed lifting over frontal surfaces or by cyclonic convergence. “Upslope,” by popular usage, nonetheless suffices to categorize the cloud systems described in this chapter.

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Authors
  1. Roger F. Reinking
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  2. Joe F. Boatman
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NOAA/ERL National Severe Storms Laboratory, 73069, Norman, OK, USA

    Peter S. Ray

  2. Dept. of Meteorology and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, Florida State University, 32306, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Peter S. Ray

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© 1986 American Meteorological Society

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Reinking, R.F., Boatman, J.F. (1986). Upslope Precipitation Events. In: Ray, P.S. (eds) Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-935704-20-1_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-935704-20-1_19

  • Publisher Name: American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-935704-20-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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