The dynamic response of the hurricane wind field to rainband heating. Part II: Comparisons to RAINEX observations and high resolution simulations

Part I presents a new method for understanding the impact of diabatic heating in rainband convection on the hurricane wind field. Here we present more detailed results of simulated spiral bands and their impact on the wind field of hurricanes. The results of simulated spiral bands are compared to the dataset from the RAINEX field program, which successfully collected dual-Doppler radar observations of spiral bands inside hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia and Rita. A procedure is introduced to isolate the impact of spiral bands on the surrounding hurricane wind field in high resolution full-physics simulations of hurricanes. A series of comparisons to the observations and numerical simulations of spiral bands in hurricanes confirms the validity of this new method which provides a simple dynamical tool to better understand the impact of spiral bands in hurricanes.