88th Annual Meeting (20-24 January 2008)

Monday, 21 January 2008
Analysis of radar and gauge rainfall during the warm season in Oklahoma
Exhibit Hall B (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
Bin Wang, Wuhan Institute of Heavy Rain of China Meteorological Administration and NOAA/NSSL, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China; and J. Zhang, W. Xia, K. Howard, and X. Xu
Poster PDF (431.4 kB)
During June 2007 the Oklahoma state wide average rainfall set a new all time record of 9.1 inches. There were 92 separate reports of flooding with several mesonet stationšs June rainfall total exceeding 17 inches. The record rainfall combined with a dense mesonet and seamless radar coverage provided a wealth of information for studying radar-gauge relationships in fine spatial and temporal detail. Over 10,000 5-minute radar gauge observational pairs were examined for various factors such as the z/r uncertainties in relation to different precipitation regimes. Further, uncertainties in rainfall observations as a result of hail and winds were also investigated. The analysis results indicate a wide range of challenges and issues associated with radar-gauge comparisons during the warm season. The results also leads to possible strategies in quantifying and mitigating the uncertainties in quantitative precipitation estimation that employ radar and gauge observations.

Supplementary URL: