Abstract
Hubei Province Region (HPR), located in Central China, is a concentrated area of severe convective weather. Three severe convective processes occurred in HPR were selected, namely 14–15 May 2015 (Case 1), 6–7 July 2013 (Case 2), and 11–12 September 2014 (Case 3). In order to investigate the differences between the three cases, the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of cloud–ground lightning (CG) flashes and precipitation, the distribution of radar parameters, and the evolution of cloud environment characteristics (including water vapor (VD), liquid water content (LWC), relative humidity (RH), and temperature) were compared and analyzed by using the data of lightning locator, S-band Doppler radar, ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR), and automatic weather stations (AWS) in this study. The results showed that 80% of the CG flashes had an inverse correlation with the spatial distribution of heavy rainfall, 28.6% of positive CG (+CG) flashes occurred at the center of precipitation (>30 mm), and the percentage was higher than that of negative CG (−CG) flashes (13%). Moreover, the quantity of thunderstorm cells in Case 1 was more than other cases, the peak time of +CG flashes was prior to that of total CG flashes in Case 2 and Case 3, and the time of +CG flashes’ peak in Case 2 was prior to that of precipitation at about 2 h. Based on the analysis of the cloud environment, there are three main reasons for the differences of CG flashes and precipitation. Firstly, the structure of the LWC vertical profile and the height of the LWC peak are different, and high LWC makes it difficult for the collision of ice particles to generate electricity. Secondly, the differences between convective available potential energy (CAPE), precipitation, and CG flashes is caused by the sudden increase of VD from 1.5 km to 3 km, and thirdly, the production of CG flashes is very sensitive to RH at the surface layer and the total CG flashes increase as the RH increasing.
Highlights
Severe convection is the variety of hazardous events produced by deep and moist convection, and hazardous weather events include hail, damaging wind gusts, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall.The convection frequently associated with thunderstorms and hazardous weather can be produced by thundering convection and non-thundering convection [1]
The differences between convective available potential energy (CAPE), precipitation, and cloud–ground lightning (CG) flashes is caused by the sudden increase of vapor density (VD) from 1.5 km to 3 km, and thirdly, the production of CG flashes is very sensitive to relative humidity (RH) at the surface layer and the total CG flashes increase as the RH increasing
The quantity of thunderstorm cells in Case 1 is more than other cases, the lightning activity produced by the fourteen thunderstorm cells was inversely correlated with the spatial distribution of precipitation centers in
Summary
Severe convection is the variety of hazardous events produced by deep and moist convection, and hazardous weather events include hail, damaging wind gusts, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall. Little is known about the associated water vapor conditions of CG lightning flashes and precipitation in different severe convection based on the MWR. It is highly desirable to explore some characteristics of the atmospheric environment between rainfall and CG flashes, the evolution of radar reflectivity in different severe convection, and to understand the differences of atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles in which they develop, in order to help improve the regional weather forecasts of the associated precipitation and CG flashes events over HPR. The temporal and spatial distributions of lightning, precipitation, and environment characteristics during three severe convective processes in HPR are studied comparatively, and the distribution characteristics of LWC, VD, RH, and T during the peak of lightning and precipitation are analyzed based on MWR. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the evolution characteristics of cloud environmental physical quantities (VD, LWC, RH, and T) in different convective cases, and reveal the reasons for the differences between CG lightning flashes and precipitation caused by different convective cases
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