A PRECIPITATION AND FLOOD CLIMATOLOGY WITH SYNOPTIC FEATURES OF HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

A climatological study was conducted to identify the spatial distribution of 'normal ' precipitation, to compile and interpret the reported flood statistics, and to identify and evaluate the synoptic patterns and sounding para-meters associated with heavy rainfall across the southern Appalachian Mountains. It was found that a large vari-ability in precipitation amounts exists across the southern Appalachian region, due in most part to the mountainous terrain. The 'normal ' precipitation was found to be great-est across southwest North Carolina due to the upslope southerly wind flow created by the typical synoptic-scale storm track across the southern Appalachian region. The least amount of precipitation was observed across north-east Tennessee and across portions of the French Broa