Radar-Based Analysis of Convective Storms over Northwestern Italy

Atmosphere

Paolo Davini¹  Renzo Bechini¹  Roberto Cremonini¹ 

[1] ¹Department of General Physics “A. Avogadro”, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy ²Environmental Protection Agency of Piemonte (Arpa Piemonte), Department of Forecasting Systems, Via Pio VII 9, 10135 Torino, Italy

关键词: thunderstorms;    North-western Italy;    convective cells;    weather radar;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos3010033

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Thunderstorms may cause large damages to infrastructures and population, therefore the possible identification of the areas with the highest occurrence of these events is especially relevant. Nevertheless, few extensive studies of these phenomena with high spatial and temporal resolution have been carried out in the Alps and none of them includes North-western Italy. To analyze thunderstorm events, the data of the meteorological radar network of the regional meteorological service of Piedmont region (ARPA Piemonte) have been used in this work. The database analyzed includes all thunderstorms occurred during the warm months (April to September) of a 6-year period (2005–2010). The tracks of each storm have been evaluated using a storm tracking algorithm. Several characteristics of the storms have been analyzed, such as the duration, the spatial and the temporaldistribution, the direction and the distance travelled. Obtained results revealed several important characteristics that may be useful for nowcasting purposes providing a first attempt of radar-based climatology in the considered region.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.