Precipitation distribution around a windy mountain peak

A microscale network of precipitation gages around the top of a 4000-ft mountain peak (Broadcast Peak in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara, California ) has been maintained during three storms of different intensity and duration. The measurements of storm precipitation within a few hundred feet of the top show a marked asymmetric distribution around the peak. The catch on the windward side is consistently less than half that on the mountain top, and the leeward catch exceeds mountain top measurements by as much as a factor of 2. Simultaneous measurements of wind velocity show that for this particular mountain profile the relative accumulation of precipitation on the leeward slope immediately below the peak decreased with increasing wind speed. On the windward side, the deficit in precipitation catch relative to that on the mountain top reached a minimum, near the peak but appeared to be less affected by the strength of the wind.