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Vertical profiles of total precipitation in shower situations
Author(s) -
Hamilton P. M.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49709239304
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , storm , shower , convection , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , climatology , geology , physics , nozzle , thermodynamics
Vertical profiles of the total precipitation in the area scanned by a radar have been obtained for the first time. Profiles in shower situations show that precipitation commonly accumulates at an upper level. In the more severe storms the accumulations persist for an hour or more, descending slowly during this time. There is evidence that the storms dissipate quickly with a marked increase in severity as the accumulation reaches the melting level. Observations have shown that the height at which the accumulation forms steadily increases with the available energy of convection. Theoretical work by East (1957) and Kessler (1961) predicts an accumulation at a height that increases with the updraught speed. A combination of these two approaches has led to relations among the three quantities: energy of convection, updraught speed and height of accumulation. The value of these relations in the analysis of convective storms is demonstrated by using them to interpret the behaviour of a particular severe storm.