Hail storms genesis and evolution in the Andes Region (Mendoza, Argentina) derived from radar data

84. PESSANO, H., R. HIERRO, P. LLAMEDO, A. DE LA TORRE, A. ODIARD, P. ALEXANDER

Helsinki

Conferencia; 7th European Conference on Severe Storms; 2013

An environmental lapse rate conditionally unstable, moist air and some mechanism to lift up the parcel up to its level of free convection (LFC) are necessary or the development of deep convection. The rising motions associated with synoptic scale processes are too weak to lift a potentially buoyant parcel to its LFC. Mendoza, Argentina, is a semiarid region situated at midlatitudes (roughly between 32S and 36S) at the east of the highest Andes tops. There, frequent cold fronts arrive from SW and provide the required lift mechanism to trigger severe deep convection events. An appropriate instrument to study hail storms is the Weather radar, which provides a quantitative estimation of hail precipitation with high spacial and tine resolution. In this work, from radar data, we explore the possible mesoscale mechanisms able to trigger deep convection in the study region. We analyze 80 severe storms occurred during the austral summer, between 2005 and 2011.Precipitation flux, storm velocity, cell displacement, storm life time, among other radar variables, are evaluated along complex terrain in two different regions during the selected events.Paper 125: