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Characteristics and possible formation mechanisms of severe storms in the outer rainbands of Typhoon Mujiga (1522)

  • Special Collection on Meteorology and Environment over the Tibetan Plateau and Adjacent Regions
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Abstract

To better understand how severe storms form and evolve in the outer rainbands of typhoons, in this study, we investigate the evolutionary characteristics and possible formation mechanisms for severe storms in the rainbands of Typhoon Mujigae, which occurred during 2–5 October 2015, based on the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data, conventional observations, and Doppler radar data. For the rainbands far from the inner core (eye and eyewall) of Mujigae (distance of approximately 70–800 km), wind speed first increased with the radius expanding from the inner core, and then decreased as the radius continued to expand. The Rankine Vortex Model was used to explore such variations in wind speed. The areas of strong stormy rainbands were mainly located in the northeast quadrant of Mujigae, and overlapped with the areas of high winds within approximately 300–550 km away from the inner core, where the strong winds were conducive to the development of strong storms. A severe convective cell in the rainbands developed into waterspout at approximately 500 km to the northeast of the inner core, when Mujigae was strengthening before it made landfall. Two severe convective cells in the rainbands developed into two tornadoes at approximately 350 km to the northeast of the inner core after Mujigae made landfall. The radar echo bands enhanced to 60 dBZ when mesocyclones occurred in the rainbands and induced tornadoes. The radar echoes gradually weakened after the mesocyclones weakened. The tops of parent clouds of the mesocyclones elevated at first, and then suddenly dropped about 20 min before the tornadoes appeared. Thereby, the cloud top variation has the potential to be used as an early warning of tornado occurrence.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions and advice on this work. We thank Yuhang Chen for assistance in figure plotting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Bingyun Wang, Ming Wei & Nan Li

  2. College of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information Technology/Plateau Atmosphere and Environment Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Bingyun Wang, Wei Hua, Yongli Zhang, Xiaohang Wen, Jiafeng Zheng, Han Li & Mingjun Zhang

  3. Hainan Meteorological Observatory, Haikou, 570203, China

    Yu Wu

  4. National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jie Zhu

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  1. Bingyun Wang
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  2. Ming Wei
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  3. Wei Hua
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Correspondence to Ming Wei.

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research and Development (973) Program of China (2013CB430102), Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (KLGIS2015A01), China Meteorological Administration Special Public Welfare Research Fund (GYHY201306040, GYHY201306078, and GYHY201506001), National Natural Science Foundation of China (91537214, 41275079, 41305077, 41405069, 91537214, 41505078, and 41305031), Research Innovation Program for College Graduates of Jiangsu Province (KYZZ-0246), and Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (2016LASW-B12).

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Wang, B., Wei, M., Hua, W. et al. Characteristics and possible formation mechanisms of severe storms in the outer rainbands of Typhoon Mujiga (1522). J Meteorol Res 31, 612–624 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-017-6043-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-017-6043-4

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