Date of Award
Spring 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
5-1-2026
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
College/School/Department
Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
Program
Atmospheric Science
First Advisor
Aiguo Dai
Committee Members
Aiguo Dai, Justin Minder
Keywords
Climate, Precipitation, Climatology, Climate Change, Climate Science, Radar
Subject Categories
Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract
As anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the global climate system, improving our understanding of how precipitating storms are responding in the real world has become increasingly important. This study leverages 22 years of high-resolution hourly precipitation data from the NCEP Stage IV dataset to produce a seasonal climatology and long-term trend analysis of precipitating storm frequency, duration, area, and intensity across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) from March 2002 through February 2024. Storms were identified and tracked using an object-tracking algorithm and their characteristics were computed for each season, from which 22-year climatology and trends were derived. The storm climatology is dominated by a pronounced east-west contrast in all storm properties across all seasons, with the eastern half of CONUS supporting substantially more active storm environments than the western half, driven by synoptic storm tracks and abundant moisture. The Gulf Coast and Southeast stand out as CONUS’s most intense storm regions across all seasons. Long-term trend analysis reveals a counterintuitive but physically coherent picture: storms over CONUS are simultaneously growing larger and lasting longer across all seasons yet delivering progressively weaker intensities at many locations, which is inconsistent with model-projected response to global warming. Storm formation frequency is declining during summer and fall, while winter storms have become modestly more common, which is consistent with model projected changes. These trends collectively suggest a broad structural transition in CONUS storm characteristics away from intense, discrete convective systems and towards more expansive and long-lived storm systems. This shift carries significant implications for severe weather risk, water resource availability, and regional precipitation distribution across CONUS.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Landsparger, Tyler, "Recent Climatology and Changes in Precipitating Storm Characteristics Over CONUS" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 424.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/424