Evaluation of the Radar Echo Tops in Catalonia: Relationship with Severe Weather

Rigo, Tomeu; Barqué, Carme Farnell

doi:10.3390/rs14246265

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The summer of 2022 was historical in Catalonia for two reasons: the number of severe hail events (diameter ≥ 2 cm) [3] and the largest hail stone event that has occurred in the region in at least the last 30 years [25]. The main goal of this analysis is to validate the previously presented parameters, which can improve the forecasting of that kind of event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermodynamic Conditions during August 2022 in Catalonia: The Monthly Record of Hail Days, Hail Size and the Differences in the Climatic Values

Rigo

2023

Climate

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The hailstorm of 30 August 2022 in the NE of Catalonia (NE of the Iberian Peninsula) produced the largest hail size, with diameters exceeding 10 cm. Furthermore, hail occurrence exceeded 2 cm in fourteen days and 4 cm in seven days during August 2022. The size and the days number constituted new records in Catalonia for at least the last 30 years. The analysis has compared the thermodynamic values derived from the sounding of Barcelona with the climatic data for 1998–2022 (25 years of data). This fact has allowed the selection and evaluation of different thermodynamic parameters’ behaviour during hail days in Catalonia. In this research, the precipitable water mass provided the best results as a hail forecaster. Second, the study has evaluated if the different parameters have a significant trend during the study period. The answer is yes in all cases, but some parameters presented a stepped rise while others increased smoothly. Finally, the research has analysed if the parameter values during August 2022 were extraordinary compared with the rest of the period. In this case, the thermodynamic parameters nature was well correlated with the hail size and occurrence maximums of August 2022.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermodynamic Conditions during August 2022 in Catalonia: The Monthly Record of Hail Days, Hail Size and the Differences in the Climatic Values

Rigo

2023

Climate

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“…Furthermore, Farnell et al [11,12] studied the thermodynamics associated with the different types of precipitation, from liquid to large hail. However, the affected area and the hail size are the first questions of interest; the region is usual for these types of storms, but, on the other hand, the size is much larger than the historical records, based on analyses such as [13,14]. The combination of radar fields with ground registers [15,16] has allowed confirmation of the high spatial variability in the amount of hail that falls in the region of study, in a similar way to other countries around the world [1,[17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Analysis between Radar and Human Observations of the Giant Hail Event of 30 August 2022 in Catalonia

Rigo

Farnell

2023

Atmosphere

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Three facts characterise the hailstorm of 30 August 2022 in the Catalan village of La Bisbal d’Empordà and its surroundings: first, the most dramatic, the death of a child hit by a hailstone; second, the damage to most of the roofs and cars in the town; finally, the highest recorded amount of hail (more than 10 cm) in Catalonia in at least the last 30 years. This research focuses on the radar field comparison and the observations provided by an electronic survey of the study area. The results reveal that weather radar underestimated the hail size because of different factors. Conversely, some reporters provided an inaccurate hour. The difference of three months between the hail event and the electronic survey is the probable cause of this mistake in the time estimation. However, the survey delay helped to avoid answers with larger hail sizes than those provided by the official spotters.

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“…All the products are planar except the 3D CAPPI (Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator) product, which consists of 40 planar fields with a height step of 0.5 km (from 0.5 to 20 km). Apart from the CAPPI, the other products are Echo Top of 12 dBZ reflectivity (TOP12) [32], and the 24 h Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) using radar and rain gauges of automatic weather stations [7,33]. Green points in the left panel of Figure 1 show the location of the different singlepol C-band radars of the Catalan network.…”

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confidence: 99%

Warm Rain Analysis from Remote Sensing Data in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona for 2015–2022

Rigo¹

2023

Hydrology

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The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona is one of the most densely populated European regions. The hydrological conditions are very extreme, as are those of the Mediterranean Basin, with long drought periods. The management of water systems is one of the priorities, implying the understanding of the whole life cycle of water. One of the worst-known steps in this cycle corresponds to the rainfall events occurring between warm and cold periods, with quasi-tropical precipitation but with little or no lightning activity. This manuscript relies on the analysis of this type of precipitation for 2015–2022 for characterization and modelling to provide the signatures that can help diagnose these events in real time. The comparison of cold convective and warm rain events thorough radar, lightning and numerical weather prediction data has allowed us to find the main differences between both types. Warm rain events are predominant in the region, with more than 70% cases exceeding 10 mm of daily precipitation. The maritime influence is crucial in most of the warm rain episodes.

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Evaluation of the Radar Echo Tops in Catalonia: Relationship with Severe Weather

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Thermodynamic Conditions during August 2022 in Catalonia: The Monthly Record of Hail Days, Hail Size and the Differences in the Climatic Values

Thermodynamic Conditions during August 2022 in Catalonia: The Monthly Record of Hail Days, Hail Size and the Differences in the Climatic Values

A Comparative Analysis between Radar and Human Observations of the Giant Hail Event of 30 August 2022 in Catalonia

Warm Rain Analysis from Remote Sensing Data in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona for 2015–2022

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