Airborne Radar Observations of Hurricane Georges during Landfall over the Dominican Republic

摘要

On 22 September 1998 hurricane Georges made landfall on the Dominican Republic (DR). There was considerable wind damage, with wind gusts up to 58 m/s in Santa Domingo on the south coast, but most of the damage and deaths resulted from mudslides and the flooding of rivers. Georges had previously affected several islands in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico, but it had retained much of its circulation strength. Forty rain gauge stations across the DR measured rainfall totals from Georges between 0.7 and 41 cm, the latter at the capital Santo Domingo, located on the south coast. It is suspected that much higher rain rates occurred in DR's mountainous interior. This talk summarizes satellite and ground observations of Georges, as it passed the DR, and it focuses on EDOP data. In particular, we try to estimate the rainfall rate over the mountainous terrain of the DR. We use detailed sounding data to explain the presence and characteristics of the massive MCS to the south, as well as the upper-level updrafts apparent over this MCS and over the mountains of the DR.