"precipitable water" refers to the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere that can potentially fall as rainfall or snow. It helps us understand how much moisture is available in the air for precipitation to occur. Full definition
We also include an estimate from the NCAR LE of the impact of decadal variability in precipitable water in the atmosphere, which can impact GMSL. (pnas.org)
To reduce the variability and bias introduced into the QME AERI / LBLRTM radiance residuals, the moisture profiles from each radiosonde are scaled such that its total precipitable water vapor matches that retrieved from the microwave radiometer (MWR), and these scaled profiles are used to drive the model. (arm.gov)
The storm is passing over waters of 29 °C — approximately 0.5 °C above average in temperature — and is an unusually wet storm, with amounts of water vapor near the very high end of what is observed in tropical cyclones (precipitable water values up to 3.0 inches.) (climatesignals.org)