About

Deanna Hence is an Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she joined the faculty in Fall 2014. She is also an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and a LEAP Scholar. Prior to her faculty appointment, she was a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she studied tropical cyclones using the NASA Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) research aircraft during the NASA Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel (HS3) multi-year Earth Venture Mission. Her research interests focus on the impacts of hazardous weather on human systems, convective storm systems, tropical meteorology, and orographic precipitation, with a particular emphasis on utilizing radar and satellite remote sensing technologies. Complementing her scientific research, she is passionate about science communication, policy, and public engagement, aiming to bridge the gap between science and human interests to make scientific knowledge more relevant and useful for the greater good. Professor Hence's academic background includes a Ph.D. and M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington, completed in 2011 and 2007 respectively, and a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Science with a concentration in Meteorology from the University of Michigan in 2004. She teaches courses related to weather and climate hazard risk communication and climate and global change, reflecting her commitment to educating the next generation of scientists and communicators in her field.

Research topics

• Geology
• Geography
• Meteorology
• Climatology
• Political Science
• Environmental science
• Geophysics
• Atmospheric sciences
• Engineering
• Geodesy
• Physics

Selected publications

• The CROCUS Measurement Strategy

  2025-05-21

  preprintOpen accessCorresponding

  The Community Research On Climate and Urban Science, CROCUS is a United States Department of Energy Urban Integrated Field Laboratory which brings a Model Driven Experiment (MODEX) approach to elucidating the underlying physics that drive urban climate systems. Chicagoland (the city itself and surrounding counties) is home to over 10 million residents and is highly Heterogeneous. Home to major transport hubs the region represents an urban to rural gradient and is bordered by the 5th largest lake on the planet. MODEX requires a robust observational strategy. CROCUS strategy for this comprises four components: A long-term multi-node observational network, the Micronet, built around AI edge-enabled sensing nodes, fixed instrumentation, and distributed sensing networks enabled by technologies such as LoRaWAN to provide diverse earth science observations in highly heterogeneous urban settings. A series of field campaigns bringing advanced remote sensing and sounding networks to Chicago and the surrounding region, including an advanced weather radar, combined with local ground-truthing. Curation of multi-agency open datasets. Community centered data collection and characterization of affordable sensors. As we round out two and half years in the project, eleven micronet sites have been deployed across the Chicagoland region including sites with advanced in-ground wireless sensors providing a comprehensive view of subsurface to atmosphere. The presentation will highlight several cases and showcase our first field campaign, CROCUS Urban Canyons. The Urban Canyons field campaign involved two 39 hour intensive observational periods (IOPs) over a two week period and launched 42 soundings from four locations across Chicago (a coordinated sounding network). It also brought an advanced air chemistry lab to the city and advanced LIDAR and infrared radiometric profiling. Finally the presentation will provide an overview of the upcoming comprehensive field campaign to be held in the region in 2026/27 and highlight engagement and collaboration opportunities with the project.

  PublisherDOI

• Self‐Care in Graduate School

  2025-01-24

  other1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The 2025 CROCUS Urban Flooding and Rainfall Campaign

  2025-05-21

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The United States Department of Energy-funded Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) Urban Integrated Field Laboratory is a multi-year intensive research program that integrates long-term instrumentation deployments, intensive field observations, and multi-scale modeling efforts across the greater Chicago region to study the community-scale physics and impacts of extreme weather and climate events. Set to occur in the spring of 2025, the CROCUS Urban Flooding and Rainfall Campaign is the second intensive field observation effort. The campaign’s goal is to use novel observational strategies to characterize hydroclimate dynamics from the subsurface through the troposphere before, during, and after flooding events in Chicago to enable physical and agent-based modeling, assess the performance of flood management infrastructure, and improve the resilience of Chicago-area residents to extreme precipitation events. Conducted in partnership with organizations within and around the city of Chicago, this campaign will collect a suite of subsurface, surface, and remote sensing observations at high temporal and spatial scales to benchmark remote sensing, parameterize multi-scale atmospheric and hydrologic models, and provide detailed data mapping for decision-making around the heterogeneity of the region’s flood response. Long-term monitoring of the subsurface and surface conditions across the region will be augmented by targeted soil characterization and soil moisture measurements and the deployment of an X-Band radar, soundings, lidars, and radiometers. Together, these observations will be used to drive coupled models to better understand the drivers for extreme precipitation in an urban setting, as well impacts of heavy precipitation on urban communities. These data collection efforts are embedded within Chicago neighborhoods and neighboring communities, and are thus critically coordinated with education and community engagement efforts to develop the scientific inquiry and build capacity within heavily impacted communities.

  PublisherDOI

•  A multi-scale analysis of atmospheric processes associated with dam overtopping events in the Eastern United States

  2025-08-08

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study uses WRF high-resolution numerical modeling case analysis and catchment-level statistical characterization of reanalysis and precipitation datasets to examine the evolution atmospheric conditions associated with hydrologic dam incidents in the eastern United States. Extreme precipitation elevates the risk of dam overtopping, which is the main cause of a third of US dam failures. As the intensity of precipitation is predicted to increase in future climates, understanding the evolution of precipitation-generating features within the atmospheric system, alongside the hydrologic response leading up to the failure, is a crucial initial step in properly characterizing and predicting the risk of dam failures during a range of weather events. Case study analysis reveals that the Appalachian Mountains have the potential to play a role in these events, even at distance from the terrain itself, owing to complex interactions between orographically-blocked flows, fronts, and other meteorological phenomena like tropical cyclones. Statistical analysis of four subregions of the US eastern seaboard 30-days period prior to a dam’s hydrologic incident further highlight that combinations of these phenomena present more risk for high numbers of failures than each phenomenon alone. Ongoing analysis of the sub-regions seeks to characterize variations across the region, identify the role of persistent atmospheric patterns, and provide deeper insight into processes that determine how precipitation is distributed within the catchment.

  PublisherDOI

• Characterizing the Atmospheric Conditions Leading to Dam Overtopping in the Eastern United States

  2025-03-15

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study uses catchment-level statistical characterization of reanalysis and precipitation datasets to create a typology of the evolution atmospheric conditions associated with hydrologic dam incidents in the eastern United States. Extreme precipitation elevates the risk of dam overtopping, which is the main cause of a third of US dam failures. As the intensity of precipitation is predicted to increase in future climates, understanding the evolution of precipitation-generating features within the atmospheric system, alongside the hydrologic conditions leading up to the failure, is a crucial initial step in properly characterizing and predicting the risk of dam failures during a range of weather events.This analysis divides the US eastern seaboard into four regions to examine the meteorological events within a 30-day period prior to a dam’s hydrologic incident. Initial analysis of the northeast sub-region found that although quasi-stationary fronts (frontal) or tropical cyclones (TC) present their own risk, compound events combining the two were most immediately associated with numerous dam failures over a broad region. However, catchment-level precipitation analysis further highlighted that the basins that had failures during these TC/frontal events also had numerous smaller precipitation events in the timeframe leading up to the incident. This longer tendency towards higher precipitation is associated with persistent large-scale patterns within the 14 days prior to the event. Ongoing analysis of the other sub-regions within the study area will further characterize variations across the region, as well as provide deeper insight into processes that determine how precipitation is distributed within the catchment.  

  PublisherDOI

• Comparing multi-source urban flood indicators: satellite, simulation, and citizen-reported data

  Environmental Research Water · 2025-09-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Urban flooding arises from complex mechanisms, making it challenging to capture accurately with a single detection method. This study evaluates three complementary approaches to detect flooding across three Chicago neighborhoods: (i) Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR), offering weather-independent, high-resolution (10 m) imagery of surface inundation; (ii) the storm water management model (SWMM), simulating combined sewer overflow and drainage performance; and (iii) citizen-generated 311 service requests, capturing observed flooding impacts. By analyzing six storms ranging from severe to mild, we examine how each source uniquely contributes to identifying urban flood events. SAR imagery effectively identifies standing water but can miss brief flooding due to satellite revisit constraints. SWMM provides detailed insights into system-wide drainage behavior yet may underestimate localized street-level flooding. Meanwhile, 311 calls reflect real-world flooding impacts but are vulnerable to underreporting. Statistical overlap analysis highlights chronic flood hotspots repeatedly identified across multiple detection methods, indicating persistent infrastructure and topographic vulnerabilities. Temporal analysis further reveals that while SWMM flooding aligns closely with rainfall peaks, 311 calls typically precede or persist beyond these peaks. Our findings emphasize the value of using satellite observations, hydrological modeling, and resident-reported data in a complementary manner to better interpret patterns in flood timing, severity, and spatial distribution—providing insights that can inform targeted infrastructure improvements and contribute to urban flood resilience planning.

  PublisherDOI

• Evolution of Surface Precipitation Accumulations Upstream of the Olympic Mountains using Observations and Simulations: An OLYMPEX Case Study

  2024-03-11

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Analysis of surface precipitation accumulations upstream, near-shore, and adjacent to the Olympic mountains from the 17 December 2015 case during OLYMPEX using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations, the NPOL dual-polarization radar, and high-resolution soundings investigates the role of low-level blocking on upstream precipitation enhancement. Past work shows that frontal systems often slow while approaching complex terrain if the Froude number is sufficiently low. Low-level blocking of stable air ahead of a front can modify precipitation distributions by frontal deformation, slowing, splitting, or merging. Observed coastal sounding-derived vertical stability profiles indicate high levels of low-level stability and significant vertical wind shear, which showed little change while a warm front propagated northeastward and stalled as the stable air mass likely dammed against the terrain. Radial velocity from the NPOL radar and simulated wind fields indicate strong down-valley flow coupled with a frontal jet also contributed to long-lasting Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves extending offshore.Using WRF simulations along with OLYMPEX observations, we examined the evolution of precipitation upstream of complex terrain by breaking down the distribution of pre-frontal and frontal precipitation accumulations as the warm front approached the Olympic Peninsula. Through dividing the event into regions upstream of NPOL and into timeframes relative to landfall, results indicate pre-warm frontal precipitation accumulations decrease with distance upstream of the coast with the highest accumulations present over the terrain. As the front's translation speed slowed and eventually stalled, the warm frontal period accumulations are highest far upstream of the coast and over the terrain, with lesser accumulations in the middle region. These results indicate that upstream precipitation enhancement upstream is an indirect effect of the terrain influencing the frontal shape and propagation, resulting in enhanced frontal precipitation accumulations.

  PublisherDOI

• Typology of Atmospheric Conditions Leading to Dam Overtopping in the Eastern US

  2024-01-01

  articleSenior author

  Statistical characterization of reanalysis datasets during over 300 hydrologic dam incidents between 2003 and 2022 will create a detailed typology of weather systems associated with dam overtopping in the eastern United States. Dam overtopping poses significant risks to infrastructure and public safety, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of the multi-scale atmospheric conditions that lead to such events. To better account for the natural flow of water to the affected dams, we will adopt a watershed-focused Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on regional atmospheric data collected from ERA5 alongside USGS streamflow and Stage IV precipitation observations to enhance understanding of high-risk weather conditions. PCA will be employed to reduce the dimensionality of our data and identify key components that capture significant flow characteristics, such as geopotential height, temperature, and stability at multiple levels, as well as those previously found as important for extreme precipitation and convective support, such as Integrated Vapor Transport (IVT) and Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE). We expect PCA to highlight how characteristics of dominant meteorological features, such as moisture advection, frontal evolution, and storm propagation, contribute to dam overtopping events. This initial study focuses on the Northeast watershed region, encompassing New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, to offer insights into the atmospheric dynamics of extreme precipitation and subsequent dam overtopping events in this area. Spatial analysis will then examine the geographical distribution of these characteristics and their correlation with dam overtopping incidents within the Northeast region. We anticipate our results from this region to be useful for comparisons with predictive models and to aid in the development of effective risk management strategies for dam safety. This focused study also provides a solid foundation for applying clustering algorithms and creating composite mapping to detail key variables for each weather type within this watershed.

  PublisherDOI

• Upper-air soundings collected during the CROCUS Urban Canyons 2024 campaign in Chicago, Illinois USA

  OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program, Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) studies urban climate change and the impact it has on communities, with particular focus on disinvested, under-resourced communities. This information leads to new insights on urban climate challenges and informs future actions for mitigating and adapting to climate change at the street, neighborhood and regional levels.As part of the CROCUS effort, the Urban Canyons 2024 project was undertaken to study conditions at unprecedented detail over various neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois. This dataset consists of upper air soundings that were collected as part of this effort. Soundings were launched during two intensive observing periods, IOP1 occurred on 22-23 July 2024, while IOP2 occurred on 27-28 July 2024. For IOP1, soundings were launched at coordinated times from three sites, Shedd Aquarium in Downtown Chicago, Abizu Campus High School in Humboldt Park, and Gary Comer Youth Center in West Woodlawn. For IOP2, the Gary Comer site was replaced by a neighborhood site in West Woodlawn, Chicago. The Abizu Campos site was operated by Valparaiso University and used iMET-4 rawinsondes, the other sites were operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and used GRAW DFM-19 sondes.This dataset contains netCDF files containing quality-controlled temperature, dewpoint, geopotential height, pressure, and vector wind measurements at 1 second intervals following launch. These files are readable by the open-source netCDF software libraries available in many software packages (i.e., python, R, fortran, C++, etc.). The dataset also contains quicklook plots of each launch on a skew-T log-p thermodynamic diagram. These are in png format viewable by most web browsers.

  PublisherDOI

• Radar Survey of Hail-Producing Storms and Environments during the 2018–19 Severe-Weather Season in the Córdoba Region of Argentina

  Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology · 2024-03-08 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Frequent deep convective thunderstorms and mesoscale convective systems make the Córdoba region, near the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range, one of the most active areas on Earth for hail activity. Analysis of hail observations from trained observers and social media reports cross-referenced with operational radar observations identified the convective characteristics of hail-producing convective systems in central Argentina over a 6-month period divided into early (October–December 2018) and late seasons (January–March 2019). Reflectivity and dual-polarization characteristics from the Córdoba operational radar [Radar Meteorológico Argentina (RMA1)] were used to identify the convective modes of convective cells at time of positive hail indicators. Analysis of ERA5 upper-air and surface data examined convective environments of hail events and identified representative dynamic and thermodynamic environments. A majority of early season hail-producing cells were classified as discrete convection, while discrete and multicell occurrence evened out in the late season. Most hail-producing cells initiated directly adjacent to the Sierras in the late season, while cell initiation and hail production is further spread out in the early season. Dividing convective events into dynamic/thermodynamic regimes based on values of 1000 J kg −1 of CAPE and vertical wind shear of 20 m s −1 results in most early season events reflecting shear-dominant characteristics (low CAPE, high shear) and most late-season events exhibiting CAPE-dominant characteristics (high CAPE, low shear). Strength and placement of low-level temperature and moisture anomalies/advection and upper-level jets largely defined the differences in the dominant regimes. Significance Statement This study used regional radar data alongside hail reports from trained observers and social media to better understand the types and timing of storms identified as producing hail, given the lower resolution of satellite studies. Dividing the hail season (October–December; January–March) showed that within hail season, early season storms tended to be singular storms that formed across the region in environments with strong vertical winds and weak instability. Late-season storms were a mix of singular storms and multicellular storm systems focused on the mountains in weak vertical winds and strong instability. These results show differences from satellite studies and identify key representative hail-producing radar features and environmental regimes for this region, which could guide hail risk analysis within the severe-weather season.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: The Upstream Impacts of Mountains on Frontal Precipitation Using Olympic Mountain Experiment (OLYMPEX) Observations

  NSF · $914k · 2020–2027

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen W. Nesbitt

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  11 shared

• Paola Salio

  8 shared

• Jeffrey D. Thayer

  6 shared

• Robert A. Houze

  University of Washington

  5 shared

• Timothy J. Lang

  Marshall Space Flight Center

  5 shared

• Vankita Brown

  4 shared

• DaNa L. Carlis

  NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

  4 shared

• Andrew M. Geller

  Research Triangle Park Foundation

  4 shared

Labs

• Deanna Hence's LabPI

  Research on the formation and inner workings of various convective cloud systems across the tropics and mid-latitudes, with a focus on their organization on various size scales and their impact by changes in their surroundings.