Investigation of intra-seasonal to multi-decadal variability in South Florida rainfall

• Main Authors: Mestas-Nũnez, Alberto M., Enfield, David B.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Laboratories, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory 2003
• Subjects: Rain and rainfall > Florida.; Rainfall anomalies > Florida.; Precipitation Meteorology > Florida.; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7289/v5np22cd; https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/11115

We investigated different climatic factors affecting South Florida (climate divisions 4, 5 and 6) precipitation. The climatic indexes used here are based on over a century of global sea surface temperature anomalies. The climatic associations are studied for different seasons and in three frequency bands (intra-seasonal, inter-annual and decadal). We found that the known ENSO relationship for winter/spring (wetter than normal South Florida rainfall anomalies during El Niño) does not hold during the summer. We attribute this to an opposite relationship on intra-seasonal South Florida precipitation (dry during El Niño) that exists during that season. The ENSO associations with South Florida unfiltered precipitation depend on the different phases of the North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific decadal variability. In general, decadal warming of the Eastern North Pacific and North Atlantic are associated with wetter decades of south Florida precipitation. Seasonal outlooks of south Florida precipitation ought to consider SST variability associated with ENSO, and from decadal modes of variability in the Pacific and the Atlantic.