Effects of Mountain Ranges on Mesoscale Systems Development. Final Report April 15, 1982 - July 31, 1985

摘要

Synoptic studies addressed themselves to a moisture bridge over Central America which often is tied to severe weather in the Rocky Mountain area. Heavy flooding events over eastern China have been tied to preferred positions of blocking highs and to vortices developing over the Plateau of Tibet. Mesoscale convective systems over, and to the east of, the U.S. Rocky Mountains have been investigated by individual case studies as well as by satellite composite imagery. There appears to be a well-defined sequence of events, whereby first the average precipitation rate maximizes, then the volumetric rain rate, and finally the rain area. Appendices: A Satellite Climatology of Intense Convective Storms from Manually Digitized Hourly Cloud Cover Fields; Meso-beta-scale Characteristics of the Meso-alpha-scale Convective Complex; Evolution of Precipitation and Upper Air Characteristics During the Life-Cycle of a Composite Mesoscale Convective Complex; The Precipitation Life Cycle of Mesoscale Convective Complexes.