Origin of Moisture for the Precipitation Produced by the Exceptional Winter Storm Formed over the Gulf of Mexico in March 1993

On 12–15 March 1993, a severe winter storm (SC93) formed over the Gulf of Mexico, affecting the Caribbean Islands and the eastern coast of the United States (US) and Canada with a notable amount of precipitation, snow and severe local storms. In this study, we investigate the origin of the precipita...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere
Main Authors: Patricia Coll-Hidalgo, Albenis Pérez-Alarcón, Luis Gimeno
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
Subjects:
extratropical cyclone
winter storm
moisture sources
precipitation
storm of the century
Canada
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13071154
Description
Summary:On 12–15 March 1993, a severe winter storm (SC93) formed over the Gulf of Mexico, affecting the Caribbean Islands and the eastern coast of the United States (US) and Canada with a notable amount of precipitation, snow and severe local storms. In this study, we investigate the origin of the precipitation generated by SC93 by applying a widely used Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic method. Our findings revealed that most of the moisture came from the western North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Moreover, the eastern US and Mexico acted as notable terrestrial moisture sources. Overall, the moisture contribution from the oceanic origin was higher than the terrestrial counterpart, and the moisture sources progressively shifted northward as the storm moved. In addition, the moisture uptake mainly occurred in the cyclone–anticyclone interaction region.

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