Analysis of the Cloud Characteristic and the Mechanism of an Extreme Rainfall-snowfall Event Associated with Cyclones over Changjiang-Huaihe River Basin

  • ZHAO Yu ,
  • LAN Xin ,
  • YANG Chengfang
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  • Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, Jiangsu, China;Sanya Meteorological Bureau, Hainan Province, Sanya 572000, Hainan, China;Shandong Provincial Meteorological Observatory, Jinan 250031, Shandong, China

Received date: 2017-09-14

  Online published: 2018-10-28

Abstract

An extreme rainfall-snowfall event that occurred in Shandong province from 12 to 13 February 2016 was contributed to the Cyclones over Changjiang-Huaihe River Basin. The precipitation of 48 stations in Shandong province broke the historic record of the same period. The characteristics of the cloud evolution and mesoscale wind field as well as precipitation mechanism were analyzed by using multiple observation and NCEP/NCAR 1°×1° reanalysis data. The main results show that:(1) Meso-β cloud mass constantly moved northeastward into Shandong province from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, and the precipitation was contributed to four meso-β cloud mass. The comma head of Cyclones over Changjiang-Huaihe River Basin developed from four banded echoes. In the initial phase of the cyclone, the warm front cloud was dominated by stratiform clouds with scattered convective clouds, while the cold front clouds in the tail of comma cloud were more convective and then weakened after moving into the sea. When the cyclone formed, the radar echo had a cyclonic rotation and elongation, forming a number of strong mesoscale rain bands. (2) The water vapor conditions were very helpful to the precipitation. The low-level jet originating from southwesterly path and southeasterly path transported ample moisture. During the rainfall period, there was moisture transmission by the southeasterly ultra-low level jet, while the transmission was weak in the boundary layer in the snowfall period. (3) The northeast cold air mattress in the low level was shallow in the rainfall period, while it was much thicker in the snowfall period. The southeaster layer above the cold mattress experienced attenuation to becoming invisible, which is a sign of the phase transition from rain to snow. Both heavy rainfall and snowfall occurred in the strongest period of southerly low-level jet. (4) The convergence between northeast and southeast winds near the shear line in front of the low vortex, warm advection, warm frontogenesis and the release of the conditionally unstable energy, are the forcing mechanism of ascending motion, which result in heavy precipitation. The observations of wind profile radar and laser raindrop spectrograph are helpful to judge the precipitation phase in weather forecast.

Cite this article

ZHAO Yu , LAN Xin , YANG Chengfang . Analysis of the Cloud Characteristic and the Mechanism of an Extreme Rainfall-snowfall Event Associated with Cyclones over Changjiang-Huaihe River Basin[J]. Plateau Meteorology, 2018 , 37(5) : 1325 -1340 . DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2018.00024

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