Orographic precipitation

1. 2013 Boulder Flood

1. 2013 Boulder Flood

Although much has been learned about diurnal-orogenic-convection (DOC) cycle and orographic precipitation in recent years, the ability to predict their location and intensity with the desired accuracy remains elusive. A major obstacle in achieving such ability is that the location and amount of DOC cycles, cloud development, and precipitation depend on the accurate prediction of multi-scale motions and microphysical transformations that have not been amenable to simultaneous measurement. The upcoming field campaign FRONT-PORCH in the summer of 2014 will attempt to obtain such information on the most extensive-to-date range of processes contributing to convection initiation and precipitation production over the orography of the Colorado Front Range. We propose to join this campaign to both aid in obtaining, and benefit from achieving, our shared goals, which focus on two major objectives: Investigate the role of diurnal thermally-driven circulation in the absence of strong orographic forcing and Study the evolution of microphysical parameters in convective storms and relate observations to microphysical processes.