Extended Abstract (80K)P4A.9
Summer Severe Weather Occurrence in Southern Ontario—A Climatological Perspective
Sudesh Boodoo, Meteorological Service of Canada, King City, Ontario, Canada; and D. Hudak, N. Donaldson, R. Patterson., and D. Sills
The C-Band Doppler Radar at King City has been in operation since 1985, providing a comprehensive data archive. With the recent implementation of a national universal radar processing (URP) software, an advanced processing tool has become available for creating a summer severe weather climatology. This first phase of the analysis considered the interval 1995 to 2001 during the months May to August. The basis of the methodology is storm cell identification, tracking and assessment modules available with URP. Radar parameters of particular interest are the Maximum Columnar Reflectivity, Vertically Integrated Liquid, Echotop, and a severe weather product. The Doppler based mesocyclone algorithm is also incorporated. The analysis of the temporal distribution of the radar parameters reflects the diurnal cycle and the monthly variation of convective activity. A year-to-year variation of severe events was also evident and may be correlated with continental-scale atmospheric circulations. Results of analysis of the spatial distribution of convective events show a higher incidence and intensity of severe weather in areas where the interaction of lake breezes off the Great Lakes provides a precursor for convection. These results appear to be consistent with climatologies of lightening and tornado observations in the region, but provide much higher temporal and spatial details. An important outcome from this approach is the assessment of the radar algorithms themselves. For example the initial analysis of mesocyclone algorithm statistics clearly indicated unphysical behaviour which lead to corrections to the implementation.
Poster Session 4A, Severe Weather Poster
Sunday, 10 August 2003, 1:30 PM-3:30 PM
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