Distribution and trend on consecutive days of severe weathers in China during 1959–2014

Based on daily surface climate data and weather phenomenon data, the spatial and temporal distribution and trend on the number of consecutive days of severe weathers were analyzed in China during 1959-2014. The results indicate that the number of consecutive days for hot weathers increased at a rate of 0.1 day per decade in China as a whole, while that for cold weathers, snowfall weathers, thunderstorm weathers and foggy weathers showed significant decreasing trends at rates of 1.4, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.4 day per decade, re- spectively. Spatially, there were more consecutive hot days and rainstorm days in southeast- ern China, and more consecutive cold days and snowfall days in northeastern China and western China. Consecutive thunderstorm days were more in southern China and south- western China, and consecutive foggy days were more in some mountain stations. Over the past 56 years, annual number of consecutive cold days decreased mainly in most parts of western China and eastern China. Consecutive thunderstorm days decreased in most parts of China. The trend of consecutive hot days, snowfall days and foggy days was not significant in most parts of China, and that of consecutive rainstorm days was not significant in almost the entire China.

Synoptic Pattern and Severe Weather Associated with the Wide Convection over Southeast China During the Summer Monsoon Period

Based on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission（TRMM） precipitation radar observations, wide convection（WC） is defined as contiguous convective echoes over 40 d BZ, accompanied with a near surface rainfall area exceeding 1000 km^2. In Southeast China, the maximal occurrence frequency of WC takes place over the flat land region in the central plain of East China during the summer monsoon period of 1998–2010. When WC occurs in this region, the 500-h Pa atmospheric fields are categorized into three patterns by using an objective classification method, i.e., the deep-trough-control（DTr） pattern, the subtropical-highmaintenance（STH） pattern, and the typhoon-effect（Typh） pattern, which respectively accounts for 20.8%,52.8%, and 26.4% of the total WC occurrences. The DTr pattern starts to emerge the earliest（16–31 May）and occurs the most often in the second half of June; the STH pattern has a significant occurrence peak in the first half of July; the Typh pattern occurs mostly in July and August.Nearly all WC occurrences in this region are associated with thunderstorms, due to large convective available potential energy and abundant moisture. Among the three synoptic patterns, the DTr pattern features the driest and coldest air in the region, leading to the least occurrences of short-duration heavy rainfall. Strong winds occur the most often under the DTr pattern, probably owing to the largest difference in air humidity between the mid and low troposphere. Hail at the surface is rare for all occurrences of WC,which is probably related to the humid environmental air under all weather patterns and the high（〉 5 km）freezing level under the STH pattern.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON THE RESPONSE OF LAND SURFACE TO SEVERE WEATHER

A coupled model of RAMS3b(Regional Atmospheric Modeling System,Version 3b)and LSPM(a land surface process model),in which some basic hydrological processes such as precipitation,evapotranspiration.surface runoff,infiltration and bottom drainage are included, has been established.With the coupled model,we have simulated the response of soil to the severe weather process which caused the disastrous flood in north italy during 4-7.November,1994, simultaneously compared with the observation and the original RAMS3b,which has a soil and vegetation parameterization scheme(hereafter,SVP)emphasizing on the surface energy fluxes, while some hydrological processes in the soil are not described clearly. The results show that the differences between coupling LSPM and SVP exist mainly in the response of soil to the precipitation.The soil in the SVP never saturates under the strong input of precipitation,while the newly coupled model seems better,the soil has been saturated for one day or more and causes strong surface runoff,which constitutes the flood.Further sensitivity experiments show that the surface hydrological processes are very sensitive to the initial soil moisture and soil type when we compared the results with a relatively dry case and sandy soil. The coupled model has potentiality for simulation on the interaction between regional climate and land surface hydrological processes,and the regional water resources research concerning desertification,drought and flood.

Severe winter weather as a response to the lowest Arctic sea-ice anomalies

Possible impact of reduced Arctic sea-ice on winter severe weather in China is investigated regarding the snowstorm over southern China in January 2008. The sea-ice conditions in the summer （July-September） and fall （September-November） of 2007 show that the sea-ice is the lowest that year. During the summer and fall of 2007, sea ice displayed a significant decrease in the East Siberian, the northern Chukchi Sea, the western Beaufort Sea, the Barents Sea, and the Kara Sea. A ECHAM5.4 atmospheric general circula- tion model is forced with realistic sea-ice conditions and strong thermal responses with warmer surface air temperature and higher-than-normal heat flux associated with the sea-ice anomalies are found. The model shows remote atmospheric responses over East Asia in January 2008, which result in severe snowstorm over southern China. Strong water-vapor transported from the Bay of Bengal and from the Pacific Ocean related to Arctic sea-ice anomalies in the fall （instead of summer） of 2007 is considered as one of the main causes of the snowstorm formation.

Organizational Modes and Environmental Conditions of the Severe Convective Weathers Produced by the Mesoscale Convective Systems in South China

Composite radar reflectivity data during April-September 2011-2015 are used to investigate and classify storms in south China(18-27°N;105-120°E). The storms appear most frequently in May. They are either linear;cellular or nonlinear systems, taking up 29.45%, 24.51% and 46.04%, respectively, in terms of morphology. Linear systems are subdivided into six morphologies: trailing stratiform precipitation(TS), bow echoes(BE), leading stratiform precipitation(LS), embedded line(EL), no stratiform precipitation(NS) and parallel stratiform precipitation(PS). The TS and NS modes have the highest frequencies but there are only small samples of LS(0.61%) and PS(0.79%) modes.Severe convective wind(≥17m s-1at surface level) accounts for the highest percentage(35%) of severe convective weather events produced by cellular systems including individual cells(IC) and clusters of cells(CC). Short-duration heavy rainfall(≥50 mm h-1) and severe convective wind are the most common severe weather associated with TS and BE modes. Comparison of environmental physical parameters shows that cellular convection systems tend to occur in the environment with favorable thermal condition, substantial unstable energy and low precipitable water from the surface to300 hPa(PWAT). However, the environmental conditions favoring the initiation of linear systems feature strong vertical wind shear, high PWAT, and intense convective inhibition. The environmental parameters favoring the initiation of nonlinear systems are between those of the other two types of morphology.

Classified Early Warning and Forecast of Severe Convective Weather Based on LightGBM Algorithm

Severe convective weather can lead to a variety of disasters, but they are still difficult to be pre-warned and forecasted in the meteorological operation. This study generates a model based on the light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) algorithm using C-band radar echo products and ground observations, to identify and classify three major types of severe convective weather (i.e., hail, short-term heavy rain (STHR), convective gust (CG)). The model evaluations show the LightGBM model performs well in the training set (2011-2017) and the testing set (2018) with the overall false identification ratio (FIR) of only 4.9% and 7.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the average probability of detection (POD), critical success index (CSI) and false alarm ratio (FAR) for the three types of severe convective weather in two sample sets are over 85%, 65% and lower than 30%, respectively. The LightGBM model and the storm cell identification and tracking (SCIT) product are then used to forecast the severe convective weather 15 - 60 minutes in advance. The average POD, CSI and FAR for the forecasts of the three types of severe convective weather are 57.4%, 54.7% and 38.4%, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of the manual work. Among the three types of severe convective weather, the STHR has the highest POD and CSI and the lowest FAR, while the skill scores for the hail and CG are similar. Therefore, the LightGBM model constructed in this paper is able to identify, classify and forecast the three major types of severe convective weather automatically with relatively high accuracy, and has a broad application prospect in the future automatic meteorological operation.

Hazard Analysis of Severe Convective Weather in Guangdong Province, China

In the present study,a hazard model of severe convective weather was constructed on the basis of meteorological observational data obtained in Guangdong Province between 2003 and 2015.In the analysis,quality control was first conducted on the severe convective weather data,and the kriging method was then used to interpolate each hazard-formative factor.The weights of which were determined by applying the coefficient of variation method.The results were used to establish the hazard-formative factor model of severe convective weather.The cities showing the greatest hazards for severe convective weather in Guangdong Province include Yangjiang,Dongguan,Foshan,Huizhou,Jiangmen,and Qingyuan.

Analysis on a Severe Convective Weather Process of Guangxi in 2018

Based on conventional meteorological observation data and Doppler radar data,the occurrence and development mechanism of mixed severe convective weather and evolution of convective storm in Guangxi on March 4,2018 were analyzed. The results showed that the dry line was the main trigger mechanism of this severe convective weather. Instable convection stratification of cold advection at middle layer and warm advection at low layer and abundant water vapor from low-level jet provided favorable stratification and water vapor conditions for the occurrence and development of severe convection. Cold trough at middle layer,low pressure and strong vertical wind shear at middle and lower layers may be main factors for the development and maintenance of strong storm system. Squall line developed along ground convergence line,and there was bow echo on reflectivity factor chart. Moving velocity of convective system was quick,and there was gale core and velocity ambiguity on velocity map.

A Fourteen-Year Climatology of the Southwest Vortex in Summer

Statistical studies were conducted on the southwest vortex(SWV) during the summers of 2000–13 using high-resolution reanalysis data with a horizontal resolution of 0.5°× 0.5°. A total of 578 SWVs were detected, with a maximum interannual frequency of 55. The variation of the interannual frequency featured a period of around six years. The most active period of SWVs was early July and the maximum occurrence of SWVs appeared in early morning(0200–0800 Beijing Standard Time(BST)). Most of the SWVs were short-lived, with only 66 cases(11.4%) lasting for more than 24 h. In addition, the moving tracks and three-dimensional shape of long-lived(≥ 36 h) SWVs are also presented. For those SWVs that lasted for more than 12 h, four types of SWVs(Types I–IV) were identified using a new method, and the results indicated that the dynamical and thermodynamical conditions before the formation of SWVs are effective indicators of the subsequent evolution of the vortex and associated severe weathers. Moreover, a further level of classification was also constructed for Type II SWVs, which accounted for the largest proportion out of Types I–IV, and the results indicated that the lifespan, radius and maximum 6-h precipitation were all closely related to the intensity of precipitation before the formation of SWVs.

A Brief Discussion on the High-impact Cold-season Tornado Outbreak During 10-11 December 2021 in the United States

An outbreak of powerful tornadoes tore through multiple states in the central and southern United States from 10 to 11 December 2021.It is claimed the deadliest tornado outbreak that has taken place on December days.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had confirmed 66 tornadoes as of 21 December,producing at least 90 fatalities.Most tornadoes occurred at night and thus they were difficult to be visually located,which directly increases the risk for local residents.Two violent nighttime tornadoes were rated category 4 on the enhanced Fujita scale(EF4).Although a high death toll was caused during this event,the operational service actually presented an excellent performance.This tornado outbreak has aroused extensive discussion from both the public and the research community in China.This paper presents a brief discussion on the formation environment and warning services of the tornado outbreak.Recall the deadliest violent tornado in the past 45 years in China,the radar-based tornadic vortex signatures at the locations with EF4 damages show a comparable strength with those in the current cases.Some views on the tornado warning issuance and receiving and damage surveys in China are also presented.

Problems and Opportunities for Biometeorological Assessment of Conditions in Cold Season

The article is devoted to a discussion of the possibilities of biometeorological assessment of the severity of weather conditions during the cold season.The relevance of the study is ensured not only by the fact that residents of a number of states,whose total number is more than 27 million people,live in these extreme climatic conditions,but also by the need to improve biometeorological approaches to assessing the impact of these conditions on the body and health of the population.This study examined biometeorological characteristics that illustrate a measure of cold stress.These include the Siple wind-chill index;Bodman winter severity index;Arnoldi weather hardness coefficient;Mountain wind chill index;weather hardness coefficient according to I.M.Osokin.The results of a comparison of winter severity assessments based on the values of the calculated Siple and Bodman indices made it possible to establish that the Bodman index is more acceptable when assessing mildly severe winters.The most adequate for assessing the“severity”of the cold period against the background of a decrease in air temperature and an increase in wind speed is the Siple index.The need to provide the countries of the world with high-quality hydrometeorological and biometeorological forecast information is justified and relevant.In this regard,these studies are very promising.

Progress in Severe Convective Weather Forecasting in China since the 1950s

Located in the Asian monsoon region, China frequently experiences severe convective weather(SCW), such as short-duration heavy rainfall(SDHR), thunderstorm high winds, hails, and occasional tornadoes. Progress in SCW forecasting in China is closely related to the construction and development of meteorological observation networks,especially weather radar and meteorological satellite networks. In the late 1950 s, some county-level meteorological bureaus began to conduct empirical hail forecasting based on observations of clouds and surface meteorological variables. It took over half a century to develop a modern comprehensive operational monitoring and warning system for SCW forecast nationwide since the setup of the first weather radar in 1959. The operational SCW forecasting, including real-time monitoring, warnings valid for tens of minutes, watches valid for several hours, and outlooks covering lead times of up to three days, was established in 2009. Operational monitoring and forecasting of thunderstorms,SDHR, thunderstorm high winds, and hails have been carried out. The performance of operational SCW forecasting will be continually improved in the future with the development of convection-resolving numerical models(CRNMs), the upgrade of weather radar networks, the launch of new-generation meteorological satellites, better understanding of meso-γ and microscale SCW systems, and further application of artificial intelligence technology and CRNM predictions.