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<br />5. A deep warm layer of above freezing air in the storm updraft averages 2.1 km west of the Divide <br />and 2.8 km east of the Divide. This 25 percent difference in the updraft warm layer may play <br />crucial role in reducing storm rainfall potential west of the Divide. <br /> <br />It is interesting to note that flooding events that occurred in a strong cloud-layer shear or west of <br />the Divide produced about half the storm total rainfall of their eastern counterparts. The <br />differences in the depth of the updraft's warm layer and the reduced availability of <br />moisture to process are significant contributors to this observed difference. Additionally, <br />the lack of a frequently occurring low-level jet west of the Continental Divide may reduce <br />the amount of available moisture the storms couid ingest and process. <br /> <br />Each of these factors supports strongly that the differences in observed extreme precipitation <br />events east and west of the Continental Divide appear rooted in measurable differences in <br />the associated atmospheric structure. Similar differences appear to exist in the storms that <br />occur east of the Divide in the mountain/foothills and foothills/plains interfaces. The higher <br />elevation storms appear deprived of the influence of the low level jet and other sub-cloud layer <br />forcing mechanisms and a reduced availability of moisture to process. <br /> <br />The development of a repeatable site-specific PMP methodology that can quantifiably account for <br />these observed differences in storm atmospheric structure will produce the next breakthrough iA <br />the PMP maximization and storm transposition. <br /> <br />6 <br />