Orographic Precipitation Studies in California: CALJET, PACJET and Beyond

David Kingsmill

Desert Research Institute

and

NOAA Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Terrestrial Applications

The California Land-falling Jets experiment (CALJET), operated in 1998 and the Pacific Land-falling Jets experiment (PACJET), operated in 2001, were organized to better understand and predict key weather phenomena associated with winter storms making land-fall along the U.S. west coast. One area of emphasis in these projects was to examine the dynamic and microphysical processes involved in orographic precipitation enhancement along the steep but relatively small coastal mountains of California. Airborne and ground based observing platforms were deployed during both field campaigns for this purpose. In this seminar, an overview of research results from these projects will be presented along with plans for new field activities over the next several years.