Heat and moisture budgets of an intense midlatitude squall line

Abstract

Vertical integrations of both budgets produced rainfall rates generally close to the observed ones for averages over the entire system. Convective line rates were underestimated by 40%, due in large part to inadequate sounding resolution. In the later stages, when the stratiform region was well separated from the leading convective line and could be reasonably well resolved, diagnosed rates underestimated observed rainfall rates by as much as 2-3 mm h-1 as the system decayed. Radar reflectivity data showed that the rearward transport of hydrometers from the leading convective line could add as much as 2-4 mm h-1 to the diagnosed stratiform precipitation rates. -from Authors