Remote and In Situ Observations of Sierra Nevada Winter Mountain Clouds: Relationships between Mesoscale Structure, Precipitation and Liquid Water

Abstract

A small subset of midlatitude, midwinter precipitation events affecting the central Sierra Nevada are analyzed. The examples given are representative of 60% of the storm types documented during the past 4 yr of the Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project (SCPP). The structure of thee frontal systems is consistent with those observed in the United States Pacific Northwest and the British Isles. Combining information from a vertically pointing microwave radiometer, conventional radar, satellite imagery, and detailed time cross sections of rawinsonde data, relationships are developed between these remote sensing devices and the onset of supercooled liquid water (SLW). For the storms described. the highest concentration of SLW occurs after passage of an upper jet with accompanying upper-level front or surface cold ana- and/or katafront. Thee frontal passages lead to decreasing cloud thickness, warming cloud tops, decreasing precipitation rate, and shallow embedded convection over the Sierra. Discontinuities in cloud top temperature, rainbands, and decreasing echo height, associated with the passage of the upper jet and accompanying front, can be identified with satellite and radar several hours before affecting the Sierra Nevada. thus providing a prediction for the onset or increase in SLW. These relationships have application to wintertime cloud modification programs over the central Sierra.