Where, when, and why did it rain during PECAN?

The remaining 30% of the precipitation was attributed to plains-initiated storms. The mountain-initiated storms formed primarily in the afternoon and typically dissipated near the mountains. For those that survived, they propagated eastward, grew upscale, and contributed 27% of the precipitation in the plains.

The plains-initiated precipitation fell mostly during the afternoon but also contributed to overnight rainfall and those locally triggered systems tended to be relatively smaller and shorter lived. For the top 10% rain-producing events, composite reanalysis fields showed that synoptic-scale features influenced the precipitation pattern and timing: an approaching trough established southwesterly moist flow throughout the region and a nocturnal low-level jet transported moisture to its terminus in the northeast corner of the PECAN domain.