Roles of an Atmospheric River and a Cutoff Low in the Extreme Precipitation Event in Hiroshima on 19 August 2014

Abstract

Abstract Precipitation in excess of 100 mm h−1 in Hiroshima, Japan, on 19 August 2014, caused a flash flood that resulted in 75 deaths and destroyed 330 houses. This study examined the meteorological background of this fatal flood. During this event, considerable filamentary transport of water vapor from the Indochina Peninsula to the Japanese islands occurred, forming a so-called atmospheric river (AR). This AR had a deep structure with an amount of free tropospheric moisture comparable with that of the boundary layer. Furthermore, a cutoff low (COL), detached from the subtropical jet over the central Pacific, moved northwestward to the Japanese islands. Instability associated with the cold core of the COL and dynamical ascent induced in front of it, interacted with the free tropospheric moisture of the AR, which caused the considerable precipitation in Hiroshima. Moreover, the mountains of the Japanese islands played a role in localizing the precipitation in Hiroshima. These roles were separately evaluated on the basis of sensitivity experiments with a cloud-resolving model.