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Abstract
This study examines the precipitation efficiency of Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) during the "normal" year of 1982, drought year of 1983, and an anomalously wet year of 1993. The spatio-temporal patterns of MCC precipitation efficiency, as well as the synoptic environments conducive to MCC development and how they affect MCC precipitation efficiency are detailed. Results indicate that MCC precipitation efficiency is spatio-temporally dependent on the time of year, latitude of its occurrence, and storm dynamics. Ultimately, the time of year is the most significant factor in MCC precipitation efficiency because the latitude of the storms development, and the synoptic patterns in which MCCs develop, are dependent on the time of season. However, the time of year only accounts for about 10 % of the variance in precipitation efficiency which indicates that other factors (e.g., wind shear, sub-cloud base moisture, etc.) may play a larger roll in determining MCC precipitation efficiency.