Meteorological data for three atmospheric river case studies and Python programs for calculating column relative humidity and primary condensation rate

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long, narrow, and transient corridors of strong horizontal water vapor transport that frequently lead to heavy precipitation where they are forced upward. The presence and strength of ARs are often described using the integrated water vapor (IWV) and the integrated vapor transport (IVT). However, the associated precipitation is not directly correlated with these two variables. Instead, the intensity of precipitation is mainly determined by the net convergence of moisture flux and the initial degree of saturation of the air column. The column relative humidity (CRH) and primary condensation rate (PCR) are two supplements to the standard AR analysis to focus attention on the heavy precipitation potential. Datasets and two Python programs presented here can be used, for demonstration purposes, to calculate and verify the CRH and PCR in three case studies of the AR events in 2020.