Radar-derived convective storms' climatology for the Prut River basin: 2003–2017

Abstract

Abstract. Weather radar measurements are used to study the climatology of convective storms and their characteristics in the transboundary Prut River basin. The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm was used to process the volumetric reflectivity measurements, in order to identify, characterize, and track the convective storm cells. The storm attribute table output of the algorithm was used to separate the convective from the stratiform storm cells, by applying a simple selection criterion based on the average vertically integrated liquid (VIL) values. The radar-derived characteristics of convective storms were used to document the spatial and temporal distributions and storm properties in terms of duration, distance travelled, movement direction, and intensity. The results show that 94.3 % of all convective storm cells were detected during May–August, with the peak in July. The peak time for convective storm cells' occurrence was in the afternoon and evening hours between 10:00 and 18:00 UTC. The median duration of a convective storm was 42 min, the median distance travelled was 23 km, and the median movement speed was 7.7 m s−1. The average movement of storms varied with months, but overall most convective storms move from the south-west and south–south-east. Also, the analysis shows that the longer-lasting convective storms were the most intense. The spatial distribution of the convective cells reveals yearly variation patterns and hotspots but also highlights the limitations of radar measurement at longer distances. Reanalysis data suggest that low values of sea level pressure over the Black Sea can act as a dynamical driver of convective storms in the analysed area.

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Intense Convective Storms Tracks in a Densely Urbanized Italian Basin

“…This is a typical unstable situation favorable to convection processes, where air with low temperature is above air with high temperature. Other research on convective rain events show similar results for other locations [53][54][55][56]. As expected, the convective events also exhibit a seasonal periodicity (Figure 7).…”

Hydro-meteorological reconstruction and geomorphological impact assessment of the October 2018 catastrophic flash flood at Sant Llorenç, Mallorca (Spain)

“…The modelled hydrographs for the 9 October 2018 event exhibit very steep rising limbs that fall in less than 2 h. These features are similar to other observed hydrographs of significant flash floods over Spain, such as the region of Valencia (Camarasa-Belmonte and Segura-Beltrán, 2001), the Gredos range in central Spain (Ruiz-Villanueva et al, 2014) or the lower reaches of the Guadiana basin (Ortega and Garzón-Heydt, 2009). However, in most cases, both absolute and specific discharges generated during these flood events were much lower than in the case of Sant Llorenç.…”

Climatology of Convective Storms in Estonia from Radar Data and Severe Convective Environments

“…The conventional approach is to establish the study solely on weather radar data. For example, Burcea et al [29] constructed a 15-year climatology of convective storms in Romania based on radar data. Goudenhoofdt and Delobbe [30] analysed the statistical characteristics of more than 1 million storms and their tracks identified from 10 years of 5-minute datasets in Belgium.…”