Orographic features—such as mountains and valleys—add another layer of complexity. These geographical characteristics can enhance rainfall through orographic lifting, leading to greater runoff ...

The question is, why was flooding so bad in this area? There are several scientific theories on why this area saw double digits of rain in a four day stretch, one being the orographic effect.

Orographic lifting, a process that occurs when hills or mountains force air to rise and cool, caused water vapor to condense and additional precipitation to form as it combined with Helene's ...

Helene hit Western North Carolina as a tropical storm on Friday, Sept. 27, bringing inches of rain to an already saturated area causing rivers to burst from their banks, flooding communities and ...

But that is how it is with showers, hit and miss. Plus with incoming storms rainfall is orographic in nature. As onshore winds reach our foothills, the air rises and cools and precipitation increases.

One of Earth's wettest locations saw a staggering two-day rainfall total of nearly 100 inches on this day 30 years ago. Cherrapunji, India, recorded 98.15 inches of rain, or over 8 feet, from June ...