A Radar - Based Climatology of Convective Activity in The Veneto Region

A RADAR – BASED
CLIMATOLOGY OF CONVECTIVE
ACTIVITY IN THE
VENETO REGION
Michela CALZA, Alberto DALLA FONTANA,

Francesco DOMENICHINI, Marco MONAI, Andrea M. ROSSA
FORALPS Project Manager:
Dino Zardi
Editorial Team:
Stefano Serafin, University of Trento, Italy
Marta Salvati, Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Lombardia, Italy
Stefano Mariani, National Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services, Italy
Fulvio Stel, Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
The project FORALPS has received European Regional Development Funding through
the INTERREG IIIB Alpine Space Community Initiative Programme.
Partial or complete reproduction of the contents is allowed only with full citation as follows:
Michela Calza et al., 2008: A RADAR–based climatology of convective activity in the Veneto
region. FORALPS Technical Report, 4. Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di
Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Trento, Italy, 44 pp.
Cover design: Marco Aniello
Printed in Italy by : Grafiche Futura s.r.l.
Publisher:
Università degli Studi di Trento
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale
Trento, March 2008
ISBN 978–88–8443–233–9
A RADAR-based climatology of convective activity
in the Veneto region
Michela CALZA, Alberto DALLA FONTANA, Francesco DOMENICHINI,
Marco MONAI, Andrea M. ROSSA
Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Veneto, Meteorological Center of Teolo, Italy
Contact: michelacalza@yahoo.it
INTERREG IIIB FORALPS
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Abstract
Convection is one of the most important meteorological phenomena during the warm season in
northern Italy. Thermal convection is relevant close to mountains; moreover, potential instability
along the Po Valley can generate several convective phenomena, sometimes associated with severe
weather. The unique capability of weather RADARs to monitor precipitation with high spatial and
temporal resolution is a well-known feature that allows a more detailed study of this kind of
phenomena. A specific tool for weather RADAR data analyses was applied by ARPAV, focusing
on the study of convection in the Veneto Region (north-eastern Italy).
The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm has been exploited to construct a
detailed climatology of convection over the domain of Mt. Grande RADAR, managed by the
Meteorological Center of Teolo (CMT). Cells identified by the algorithm were catalogued and
referenced in space and time; a cell density function was also derived. An off-line version of the
SCIT algorithm has been implemented to collect and archive data in a systematic way. A flexible
web-based analysis tool has been devised to inquire the SCIT database according to cell attributes.
This tool allows the user to extract cells for selected periods of time and stratify them according to
one or several of the about 40 parameters of SCIT.
RADAR volumes for the warm seasons 2005, 2006 and 2007 were analyzed to document the
convective activity in terms of the cell density, i.e. the number of cells per unit area. On the
overall, more than 56000 cell identifications were recorded. Preferred times of the day,
geographical distribution, dependence from the month and tracks of convective storms were
identified by mean of the SCIT. For example, the province of Vicenza, north west of the RADAR,
was identified as the area with the highest frequency of convective activity. This area was hit 3
cells/km2/3yr cells against a value of 1 cells/km2/3yr relatively to the entire RADAR domain. The
area with the least convective activity turned out to be the province of Rovigo in the south. A
relative maximum in the overall cell density map has been found west of the Lake of Garda with
1.5 cells/km2/3yr. This finding confirms that the Lake Garda FORALPS target area is a preferred
region for convective activity; an overall maximum has been found for this area for hail-
producing. It should also be noted that convective activity in the Garda region is likely to be
underestimated, due to the beam-blocking exerted by the mountain barriers north of Verona and
Brescia and to beam height increasing with distance from the RADAR.
RADAR data were used to carry out a preliminary verification of the convective component of the
COSMO LAMI quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) for the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005,
2006 and 2007. As SCIT does not record quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE), the
reflectivity information associated with the cells was converted to rain using a convective Z-R
relation. This should give a rough estimate of the rainfall amounts produced by convection and be
indicative for the rainfall distribution. This SCIT-derived QPE was compared with the convective
component of the LAMI QPF and, for reference, with the rain gauge accumulations of the CMT
observing network. An eye-ball verification revealed that the QPF maxima are located mostly in
the Alpine and pre-Alpine areas of the Veneto region, whereas the minima are observed on the
southern plains; this general distribution is in good agreement with the QPE derived from SCIT
and the rain gauge network. SCIT-derived QPE maps agree with the rain gauge accumulations of
the CMT observing network, at least regarding the geographical position of the maximum amounts
of precipitation.
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Contents
1 Introduction 7
2 Methodology 8
2.1 The SCIT Algorithm 9
2.2 The Mt Grande RADAR archive 12
2.3 Construction of a convection database 12
2.4 The numerical weather prediction model COSMO LAMI 12
3 Operational results 13
3.1 Structural overview of the analysis software 13
3.2 Graphical user interface 14
3.3 Products 17
4 Scientific results 22
4.1 Sensitivity to and tuning of the reflectivity scale filter 23
4.2 Verification of the SCIT detection capability 24
4.3 Building a climatology of convective activity 25
4.4 Stratification with respect to various parameters 27
4.5 Evaluation of the COSMO LAMI convective precipitation 30
5 Summary and conclusions 33
6 References 44
7 Acronyms 44
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1 Introduction
An improvement of warning methods based on measurements from weather RADARs can provide
an effective tool for a wise management of water resources in the Alpine Space, in particular for
what concerns the identification of areas prone to meteorological and hydrological extremes. The
occurrence of such extremes is often related to the onset of convective activity. In fact, convective
activity is frequent during the summer season along the Po Valley, where the atmosphere is
potentially unstable most of the time, also during the night. When a dynamical forcing is acting,
typically a baroclinic wave, it is quite likely that convective overturning will occur. Whereas
systematic studies exist that investigated the frequency of particular threats connected to severe
convection, like hail and tornadoes (Giaiotti et a.,2007, Tuovinen et a., 2006), this is not the case
for the observation of the single convective cells, either isolated or as part of a larger system.
Several studies have been carried out that describe the areal distribution of rainfall in the region of
Veneto, but the same cannot be stated concerning convective activity. It is well known to
forecasters that, during the summer, convection is frequent especially over the mountains and the
foothills. For instance, the target area of the lake of Garda is frequently hit by severe storms
coming from the west and propagating eastward. Hail, sometime severe, is not unusual over this
area as well as all along the foothills to the east. However, an objective identification of the areas
more subject to storms and severe storms is still missing.
Figure 1. Cell density map with the condition probability of hail ≥ 75% for the warm
seasons 2005, 2006 and 2007 performed on a lat/lon grid with a mesh size of
0.1°x 0.1° (8x11 km). The color scale is in percent of the maximum number of
cells detected in one grid point (Nmax, reported in the upper right).
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At least partially, this gap can be filled by means of imagery from the RADAR of the
Meteorological Centre of Teolo (hereafter CMT), whose operational installation dates back to the
late eighties. In fact, CMT has recently adopted the Hydromet Decision Support System (HDSS)
(http://www.wdtinc.com), an advanced RADAR-based decision support system, conceived as an
integrated tool to extract the maximum information from weather RADAR data. The SCIT (Storm
Cell Identification and Tracking) algorithm, an important part of the HDSS system, is an advanced
tool for real-time identification and tracking of storm cells.
The main work of this study consisted in the construction of an off-line version of SCIT which
permitted to reprocess archived RADAR volumes. In addition, a web-based analysis tool was set
up to allow a systematic evaluation of numerous SCIT parameters. This tool has been used to
extract the position of each cell, to compute the number of cells per unit area, and finally to build
a cell-density function over the RADAR domain. The analysis has been applied to the years
2005/2007, obtaining a glimpse of a climatology of convective cells.
Such a climatology can be stratified according to a set of criteria based on different cell attributes.
Histograms showing the number of cells as function of the maximum reflectivity, probability of
hail, probability of severe hail as well as of other parameters have been produced. This procedure
allows to complement the information about the distribution of convective activity with an
identification of the areas more prone to the severe threats associated with convection.
Besides the geographic position, the direction and the speed of movement of each cell can also be
extracted from the SCIT database. In this way the algorithm can serve as a monitoring tool as well
as a predictor of the storm movement, making it an ideal companion of numerical models in
performing nowcasting activity.
Furthermore, precipitation maps based upon the cell density distribution can be computed and
compared with outputs from the COSMO LAMI model (available at CMT) and with
measurements from the rain gauges network. Comparison of the model output with RADAR-
based estimates can provide an alternative and, under some aspects, better way to verify the model
output for convective precipitation, since small scale storms can at times be totally missed by the
ground stations network, even if supplying a conspicuous amount of precipitation.
The SCIT analysis tool is presented in this report. Also, a number of sample analysis are included
based on the analysed data set which includes the warm seasons of 2005, 2006 and 2007.
2 Methodology
This section describes the methodology we applied to construct an inventory of convective activity
in the domain under surveillance by the CMT RADAR of Mt. Grande. The inventory is essentially
meant as a basis for the validation of quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) from Numerical
Weather Prediction (NWP) models. A description of the Storm Cell Identification and Tracking
Algorithm is first presented, followed by a description of the Mt. Grande historical RADAR data
archive, and of the application used to construct a database of convective events. Finally, a short
description of the NWM Model COSMO LAMI is provided.
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2.1 The SCIT Algorithm
The SCIT algorithm, described in detail in Johnson et al (1998), implements a 3D centroid

identification and tracking procedure. It processes volumetric reflectivity information from
RADAR data, on a radial by radial basis. Three dimensional storm identification is performed in
subsequent stages. First, storm segments are identified in the radial data. This process is repeated
using seven different reflectivity thresholds (30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 dBz). Then, individual
segments are combined into 2D storm components, based on spatial proximity. Figure 2 shows an
example of how the centroid delineation of the SCIT algorithm is performed.
Figure 2. Example of Storm Cell Tracker processing. The figure shows that a search is
made in the radial direction for gates of common reflectivity. These gates are
then built azimuthally into 2D features (From Johnson et a., 1988).
Figure 3. Example of Storm Cell Tracker processing. The figure shows how 2D features
described in Figure 2 are correlated in the vertical to produce 3D storm
centroid locations (From Johnson et a., 1988).
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As shown in Figure 3, once all reflectivity segments are grouped in 2D in the horizontal plane, a
vertical continuity search is performed. Given some reflectivity and distance constraints, the 2D
features are correlated in the vertical to provide the location of storm centroid in a 3D reference
system. Storm cells identified in two consecutive volume scans (10 minutes apart) are associated
temporally to determine the cell track.
Figure 4 shows an example of cell identification and tracking. Each circle along the track
corresponds to the position of the cell at each time step. Tracking is performed by applying a
weighted least squares fit once a storm is identified for two consecutive volume scans. A higher
weight is given to the latest storm position in order to account for radical changes in the storm
direction, while still not allowing for unreasonable storm motion. Since individual storms, rather
than storm systems, are detected by the SCIT algorithm, individual storm cells may be tracked. In
addition, individual storm cell characteristics, such as cell-based Vertically Integrated Liquid water
equivalent (VIL), may be determined and trended. Thus, the evolution of cell-based characteristics
is available to the forecaster. Short-term storm cell movement forecasts are also determined. As an
example, in Figure 4 the circles marking the centroid positions and the SCIT tracks have a color
code based on the value of the associated Maximum Reflectivity (white 30-35 dBZ, grey 35-40
dBZ, dark grey 40-45 dBZ, violet 45-50dBZ, red 50-60 dBZ, black 60-70 dBZ, yellow > 70 dBZ).
Figure 4. Example of cell identification and tracking. Each circle along the tracks
corresponds to the position of the cells at each time step. The SCIT tracks have a
colour based on the value of the associated Maximum Reflectivity (white 30-35
dBZ, grey 35-40 dBZ, dark grey 40-45 dBZ, violet 45-50dBZ, red 50-60 dBZ,
black 60-70 dBZ, yellow > 70 dBZ).
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Table 1. List of the attributes available in the SCIT cell table.
StationID RADAR name

DateTime date and time
CellID Id of the cell
Latitude/Longitude lat/lon of storm (deg)
3DXLoc X location of 3D detection in km from RADAR (km)
3DYLoc Y location of 3D detection in km from RADAR (km)
AgeHours/AgeMin/AgeSec how long the cell has been tracked
AgeVS number of volume scans storm has been tracked with
AlgRank rank of cell in cell table
Azimuth azimuth from the RADAR center of the cell location (deg)
CellBase lowest detection level of the cell (km)
CellMass total reflectivity weighted mass of the cell (kilograms)
CellTop highest detection level of the cell (km)
CellVolume overall volumetric extent of the cell (cubic meters)
ConvDepth total depth of convergence (km)
CoreAspectRatio the ratio of depth to depth of the cell
FcstError estimated forecast error of SCIT track (km)
HailSizeEstimate hail size (in)
HeightOfCenterOfMass height of the center of the cell mass (km)
HeightOfMaxdBZ height of the max dBZ found in the cell (km)
LowLevelXLoc x location from the RADAR of lowest level reflectivity of the cell (km)
LowLevelYLoc y location from the RADAR of lowest level reflectivity of the cell (km)
MaxConvergence maximum detected convergence in storm (m/s)
MaxdBZ value of maximum reflectivity with storm (dBZ)
MesoDetectionType TVS (Tornado Vortex Signature), non-TVS
ProbOfHail probability of hail (%)
ProbOfSeverehail probability of severe hail (%)
Range range from RADAR center (km)
RowName position in storm cell array of storm
SevereHailIndex HDA index of storm (dimensionless)
StormDir direction from which the storm is moving (deg)
StormSpeed speed of the storm (m/s)
StormTopDiv the amount of divergence of the storm (m/s)
UMotion u component of storm motion (m/s)
VIL highest column vertically integrated liquid water (kg/m**2)
VMotion v component of the storm (m/s)
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2.2 The Mt Grande RADAR archive
The Meteorological Centre of Teolo has a relatively long tradition in using RADAR for
monitoring precipitation. Its RADAR data archive dates back to 1989. It is important to point out
that only exploiting the CMT’s historical RADAR data archive, it is possible to obtain a
significant climatology along with a probability of occurence of storm cells. Unfortunately, the
format of the RADAR volumes experienced a change through the years due to a renewal of the
RADAR software and hardware. The main issues affecting the RADAR data archive can be
summarized as follow:
– RADAR data older than May 2003 have a different format with respect to the current
format. A software to convert RADAR data of past seasons to the SCIT format was
developed and must be tested.
– The corrected reflectivity, i.e. the reflectivity after processing by clutter-filtering
algorithms, on RADAR data of the year 2003 and 2004 has a bug due to a wrong
calibration of the Doppler chain. This implies that the RADAR volumes are not suitable
for SCIT processing. Processing the uncorrected reflectivity instead of the corrected
reflectivity could be a solution.
As a consequence of these two limitations, our storm cell climatology is currently limited to the
years 2005/2007.
2.3 Construction of a convection database
The SCIT capability to identify individual storm cells and to determine the storm cells
characteristics has been used to construct a database of convective activity in the RADAR domain.
More precisely, the records of the SCIT algorithm, updated in real time as the RADAR system of
Mt. Grande monitors the weather, have been organized in a SCIT database. Numerous storm
attributes have been derived and tracked with the SCIT algorithm, as Maximum Reflectivity,
Probability of Hail, Circulation Type etc. The fields of CMT’s convection database include all the
attributes available in the cell table. These attributes are reported in Table 1.
2.4 The numerical weather prediction model COSMO LAMI
The NWP QPFs used in this study are taken from the COSMO LAMI, the Italian version of a
model developed within the Consortium for Small Scale Modelling (COSMO) and deployed
operationally at five European National Weather Services. COSMO LAMI is operationally run by
ARPA-SIM on a rotated latitude-longitude grid with a mesh size of 7km and 35 vertical levels.
The model solves the three-dimensional, fully elastic and nonhydrostatic atmospheric equations on
an Arakawa-C grid using the split-explicit technique described by Klemp and Wilhelmson (1978).
Prognostic variables include the three Cartesian velocity components (u, v and w), temperature
(T), pressure perturbation (p') and mass fractions of water vapour (qv) and cloud water (qc).
Vertical subgrid turbulence is parameterised following Mellor and Yamada (1982) and the surface
flux formulation is based on bulk relationships using specifying a roughness length and drag
coefficients for turbulent momentum and heat exchange between the atmosphere the ground. For a
more complete description of the model, refer to Doms and Schättler (2002) and to Steppeler et al.
(2003).
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The parameterisation for grid-scale stratiform precipitation accounts for four categories of water
(water vapour, cloud water, rain and snow), while deep convection is parameterised following the
Tiedtke mass flux scheme. The latter is used to remove convective instability from the model
atmosphere, because the spatial resolution of the model does not allow the explicit simulation of
the corresponding circulation. Therefore, precipitation forecasts from the NWP model pertain to
four different categories, namely stratiform (grid-scale) and convective (sub-grid-scale) rain and
snow respectively. The resulting precipitation should therefore be an indicator for the amount and,
especially, the distribution of the rainfall produced by deep convection.
3 Operational results
This section describes the operational results achieved during the implementation of the SCIT
algorithm. A flow diagram describing the subsequent stages of the analysis software is presented.
A section is devoted to the detailed description of the graphical user interface implemented to
inquire the database of cells attributes. The final section presents the graphical outputs available,
including interactive density and trajectories maps, and histograms useful for a systematic analysis
of convective activity in the RADAR domain.
3.1 Structural overview of the analysis software
A stuctural overview of the analysis software is shown in Figure 5. As already mentioned, while
the real time RADAR system of Mt. Grande monitors the weather the volumetric reflectivity is
processed by the SCIT algorithm; moreover, an offline version of the SCIT algorithm allows to
exploit CMT’s RADAR data archive. The records of the SCIT output were organized in a mysql
database. The set of attributes derived and tracked with the SCIT algorithm (about 40)
characterizes the cell in terms of , storm speed and direction, maximum reflectivity and height of
the maximum, probability of hail and severe hail, circulation type, a mass, volume, top and base of
the cell, etc. (see section 2.3 for a short description of all the parameters managed by the SCIT).
This allows to stratify all the cells, according to a number of criteria. A web interface for data
Realtime SYSTEMATIC THUNDERSTORM CLIMATOLOGY

HDSS / SCIT
Histogram
Volumetric
Polar Data Web Interface Contour Map
Offline SCIT DB for SCIT db
queries Density Map
Trajectories Map
ARCHIVE
Figure 5. General flow diagram of the developed analysis software.
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extraction realized in PHP has been created to allow the user to select cells identified by the SCIT
with specific characteristics for selected periods of time. The graphical outputs include interactive
density and trajectories maps, and histograms useful for a systematic analysis of convective
activity in the RADAR domain (see section 3.2 for a description of all the functionalities of the
data extraction form developed).
All graphical products are displayed in the HDSS WxScope web interface. The XML-based
WxScope Plugin uses the WeatherObjects Markup Language (WxML) as the basis for its map and
graph products. The main features of this plugin include zooming and panning capabilities, as well
as other common GIS functionalities like overlapping of high resolution customized geographical
layers. All these features are inherited for the display of the SCIT Database-derived products.
3.2 Graphical user interface
A SCIT web interface for data extraction has been created to enable the user to select the
convective cells identified by the SCIT, based on user-specified characteristics and periods of
time. The data extraction form contains five main sections: 1) TIME, 2) LOCATION, 3)
PARAMETER, DURATION AND PERIOD, 4) GRAPHIC OUTPUT. A detailed description of
each section is provided below:
1. TIME: in this section the user can select the period of time to be analyzed. It is possible to
specify the initial and final date and time (hour and minutes) of the period, and/or make a
single or multiple selection of the months and years. A select element is also provided
here that gives the user the possibility to select a specific decade of the month rather than
the entire month.
2. LOCATION: in this section the user can specify the spatial range to consider for selection
of the convective cells. More precisely, it is possible to select the entire RADAR range or
a specific circular sub area. Latitudine and longitude of the circle center in decimal
degrees or in degrees/minutes/seconds, as well as the circle radius in kilometres can be
set. The check box is used to select the cells generated within or moving through the
selected area.
3. PARAMETER, DURATION AND PERIOD: the purpose of this section is to allow the
user to stratify all the cells according to one or several of the 40 parameters managed by
SCIT (see section 3.3 for a complete list and description of all the SCIT parameters). For
instance, one can select for the entire month of July 2005 the cells which at some stage of
their lifetime exhibit a maximum reflectivity larger than, say, 55dBZ.
Moreover, this section gives the possibility to stratify all the cells according to other
citeria, like the hour of genesis and the lifetimes. It is possible to select one or more of the
predefined cell lifetimes (less than 1 hour, between 1 and 3 hours, greater than 3 hours)
and time of genesis (night, from 00:00 to 05:00 UTC, morning, from 06:00 to 11:00 UTC,
afternoon, from 12:00 to 17:00 UTC and evening, from 18:00 to 23:00 UTC).
Alternatively, the user has the chance to insert specified lifetimes and time of genesis of
the cells.
4. GRAPHIC OUTPUT: this includes two subsections: GRAPH TYPE and OBJECT. In the
first one the user has to choose the type of graphic output to display: point maps, density
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maps, and contour maps. Regarding the last ones, it is possible to specify the mesh size of
the lat/lon grid used to perform the count of SCIT detections and also the color bar limits.
The checkbox list provided in the subsection OBJECT enables the user to choose between
three different ways to inquire and display the data: Trajectory (it considers the entire cell
trajectory), Starting Point (it considers only the starting point of the cell trajectory), and
Ending Point (it considers only the ending point of the cell trajectory);
All the graphical outputs are available on a web browser and necessitate of the WxScope
Plugin of the HDSS system. This makes the graphical output completely interactive, in
that it is possible to turn on and turn off the different information available, just like the
functionalities of a GIS. For example, you can highlight the cell characteristics that you
prefer, like the probability of hail along the tracks, or the maximum reflectivity of a cell.
5. HISTOGRAM OUTPUT: in this section it is possible to realize some histograms, useful
for a systematic analysis of convective activity in the RADAR domain. The user can
select the period of interest and stratify all the cells according to one of the available
parameters. The checkboxes allow the user to choose the type of histograms to be
displayed on the web browser.
The available histograms are: the number of SCIT first-time detections of cells as a
function of the hour of the day; the number of SCIT detections as a function of the month;
the number of SCIT detections as a function of the day; the number of SCIT detections as
a function of a SCIT parameter. For each parameter a set of classes can be defined, and
the number of cells within each class can be counted.
Figure 6. Part of the extraction form of the SCIT web interface (sections TIME and
LOCATION). In this example, cells from the whole June 2006 detected on the
entire RADAR domain were selected.
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Figure 7. Part of the extraction form of the SCIT web interface (section PARAMETER,
DURATION AND PERIOD). In this example, cells which at some stage of
their life time exhibit a maximum reflectivity greater than 50dBZ with
duration less than 1 hour and generated in the morning were selected.
Figure 8. Part of the extraction form of the SCIT web interface (section GRAPHIC
OUTPUT). In this example, a density map of the entire cells trajectories was
selected.
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Figure 9. Part of the extraction form of the SCIT web interface (section HISTOGRAM
OUTPUT). In this example, a histogram showing the number of SCIT
detections with a probability of hail ≥ 60% as a function of the days for the
sample period August 2007 was selected.
3.3 Products
This section presents the graphical outputs available on the analysis software. including interactive
density and trajectory maps, as well as histograms useful for a systematic analysis of convective
activity in the RADAR domain.
3.3.1 Density maps of convective activity

The SCIT cell identification capability can be used to obtain the storm cell density all over the
RADAR domain. The panels in Figure 10 show the density maps of the number of first-time
detections (i.e. the number of convective cells that are born) in specified six-hours intervals for the
period May-September of the three years 2005-2007. From top left to bottom right: from 0 to 6
AM, from 6 to 12 AM, from 12 to 18 PM and from 18 to 12 PM, respectively. The color scale is
expressed in percent of the maximum number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax, reported
in the lower right). In accordance with the general knowledge we have of convective activity, the
preferred areas of genesis appear to be the reliefs west and north-west of the RADAR site. Nmax
reaches its maximum in the afternoon and its minimum in the first hours of the day.
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Figure 10. Cell density map for the warm seasons 2005, 2006 and 2007 performed on a
lat/lon grid with a mesh size of 0.1°×0.1° (8×11 km) for cells generated from
0 to 6 UTC, 6 to 12 UTC, 12 to 18 UTC, and 18 to 24 UTC (top left to bottom
right). Details are provided in the text.
Figure 11 (left) shows the SCIT cell density on a 0.2°×0.2° lat/lon grid for the month of August
2005, while Figure 11 (right) shows the same data but with a 0.1°×0.1° lat/lon grid. The impact of
the two different mesh size values is visible: the high resolution grid allows to depict more
precisely the peaks of convective activity. For each period of reference the cell density has been
normalized, i.e.divided by the maximum number of cells detected into a grid element. The color
scale represents the percentage of the maximum number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax,
reported in the lower right).This allows an easier visual comparison among maps of different cell
densities.
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Figure 11. Left: Cell density map for Aug 2005 performed on a lat/lon grid with a mesh
size of 0.2°×0.2° (16×22 km). Right: same day, grid with a mesh size of
0.1°×0.1° (8×11km). Details are explained in the text.
3.3.2 Histograms
The histogram in Figure 12 shows the number of first-time detections as a function of the hour of
the day, integrated over the whole period (May-September 2005-2007). Again in agreement with
general observations about the onset of convection, a maximum is reached in the afternoon and a
minimum in the first hours of the day. Only cells with lifetime greater than 60 minutes have been
considered, to avoid short-lived cells that often arise in connection with organized convective
systems. The histogram in Figure 13 shows instead the number of cells as function of the lifetime
(age) estimated by the algorithm.
Figure 12. Number of SCIT first-time detections of cells with duration ≥ 1hr as a function
of the hour of the day for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
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Figure 13. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the lifetime (age) for the sample
period May-Sep 2005.
3.3.3 Other examples

This section shows some other examples of graphical outputs. More in detail, Figure 14 shows the
cell trajectories (blue line) of cells with duration ≥ 2hrs, with starting points marked in green and
ending points in red. With the zoom functionalities it is possible to obtain a map in which the
single municipalities interested by the cell trajectory are shown. Further, details about the cell
characteristics (time in blue, maximum reflectivity in red and probability of hail in yellow) are
displayed along the track (Figure 15).
Figure 14. Map of cell trajectories (blue line) with starting (green) and ending (red) points
of 29 June 2005 for cells with duration ≥ 2hrs.
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As a further example, a density map for cells generated within a range of 50km with Probability of
Hail > 75% for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007 is shown in Figure 16.
Finally, Figures 17 and 18 display histograms related to two different SCIT parameters. The first
shows the number of SCIT detections as a function of the Vertically Integrated Liquid water
equivalent (VIL) for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007, while the second shows the number
of SCIT detections as a function of the highest detection level of the cell (CellTop in kilometers)
for the same period.
Figure 15. Zoom on a cell trajectory (blue line) of 29 June 2005 with time (in blue),
maximum reflectivity (in red) and probability of hail (in yellow) displayed along
the track.
Figure 16. Local density map for cells generated within a range of 50km with the conditions
POH > 75% for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007. The color scale is in
percent of the maximum number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax,
reported in the lower right).
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Figure 17. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the Vertically Integrated Liquid
water equivalent (VIL in kg/m2) for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
Figure 18. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the of the highest detection level of
the cell (CellTop in Km) for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
4 Scientific results
While the previous chapters summarized the operational aspects of the implementation and use of
the SCIT algorithm, this section describes the scientific results achieved through its use. First, a
reflectivity scale filter, introduced to smooth out the fine resolution reflectivity peaks at close
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ranges, is described. The impact of two different values of filter size is discussed. Then, the main
outcomes of a verification of the SCIT detection capability in term of probability of detection
(POD) are presented. Finally, the climatology of convective cells of the warm seasons 2005, 2006
and 2007 is illustrated by means of diagrams showing the distribution in space and time of the
number of cells and of histograms showing the number of cells as function of the principal
attributes as maximum reflectivity, probability of hail and of severe hail.
4.1 Sensitivity to and tuning of the reflectivity scale filter
Raw RADAR data have a decreasing resolution along a radial. This means that a storm close to the
RADAR is sampled with a higher detail than far away, leading to a greater number of cell
detections by the SCIT algorithm at a close range.
Thus, before being passed on to SCIT, the data are filtered such that the fine resolution reflectivity
peaks at close ranges are smoothed out while the peaks at farther ranges are retained. This task is
accomplished using of a kernel of constant size (the "filter size"), centered on each data bin.
Consequently, the number of azimuth bins within the kernel increases with decreasing range.
The impact of two different values of "filter size" (5 and 3 km) has been evaluated in individual
cases and on the entire data set. Figure 19 shows that the 3 km filter is able to identify many more
cells than the 5 km filter, particularly in the mountainous region and at longer ranges (see white
arrows in the right panel). Figure 20 confirms this idea and reveals that the 3 km filter detects
roughly twice as many cells as the 5 km filter.
Figure 19. Left panel shows SCIT analysis for 24 Aug 2005 21:30 with filter size parameter
value 3 km, whereas the right panel is for the same time with filter size 5 km.
23
Figure 20. Left panel shows SCIT cell density on a 0.2×0.2° lat/lon grid for the month of
July 2006 with a 3 km filter size, whereas the right panel is for the same month
with a 5 km filter size. The color scale is in percent of the maximum number of
cells detected in one grid point (Nmax, reported in the lower right).
4.2 Verification of the SCIT detection capability
A brief validation of the SCIT algorithm in the Veneto region was performed overlaying the
trajectory of the cells to the reflectivity images. RADAR volumes from the summer season 2005
(June-August) were used to verify the SCIT cell identification capability in detail. The Probability
of Detection, defined as :
POD = hits/(hits + missed alarms)
has been computed as function of the cell intensity. “Hits” indicates the number of cells correctly
identified by the algorithm and “missed alarms” indicates the number of cells missed by the
algorithm but recognizable by a human operator. It has been found that, increasing the lowest
reflectivity threshold for cell identification, the POD also increases since weak, low-topped cells
can easily be missed by the algorithm. In fact, after setting the threshold to the lowest value, 30
dBZ, the verification yielded a POD around 60%, whereas for severe hail-producing cells,
identified by mean of the refunds paid by the National Solidarity Fund to Agriculture, a POD
around 90% has been found.
The cell tracking capability has not been examined in detail and with a systematic evaluation.
However, the algorithm appears able to track organized convective systems, also for several hours.
This point is important in a climatological study like ours, as it provides information about the
preferred genesis regions for convective activity and about its growth and decay. Indeed, if a cell is
not consistently tracked SCIT classifies a 'lost' cell as a newly generated cell.
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4.3 Building a climatology of convective activity
SCIT detection counts were performed on a lat/lon grid with a mesh size of 0.1°×0.1°. For each
grid element the count of the total number of SCIT detections, i.e. the cell density, was performed
for the warm season months (May-Sep) of years 2005, 2006 and 2007.
For each period of reference the cell density has been normalized, i.e. divided by the maximum
number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax, reported in the lower right). The color scale of
all figures is a function of the fraction of this number. This allows an easier visual comparison
among maps of different cell densities.
4.3.1 Monthly and warm season density maps of convective activity

The cell density maps for each month of the warm seasons are reported in Figure 38. The main
remarks concerning the monthly convective activity can be summarized as follows:
– in the year 2005 convective activity spreads out in the whole region in August, but the
Nmax reaches its maximum in September and is located on the foot hills north west of the
RADAR. In July convection is confined to the mountains, while in the other months it
influences extensively the plain;
– in the year 2006 convective activity occurs in the whole region in August, when Nmax
also reaches its maximum, located close to the RADAR site. In June and July storm cells
are mostly confined to the mountains. May and September show a prevalence of
convection over the plains;
– in the year 2007 convective activity is widespread in the region during May and June.
Nmax reaches its maximum in August on the mountains north west of the RADAR. May,
June, July and August exhibit a prevalence of convection over the mountains, whereas in
September storm cells interest predominantly the plains close to the sea.
In Figure 21 the cell density maps for the period May-September of the years 2005, 2006 and
2007 are shown. The maxima of the distributions are located prevalently on the reliefs west and
north west of the RADAR. In 2006 a maximum emerges over the plains very close to the RADAR.
In the map from 2007 a large prominent maximum over the mountains north-west of the RADAR
site appears and a small distinct peak also emerges on the northern foothills.
The overall density map, also shown in Figure 21, highlights the province of Vicenza, north west
of the RADAR, as the area with the highest frequency of convective activity. In terms of the
number of cells per square kilometre this area was hit, in the three years period, by 3 cells against a
value of 1cell/km2/3yr relative to the entire RADAR domain. The area with the least convective
activity turned out to be the province of Rovigo in the south. A relative maximum in the overall
cell density map has been found west of the Lake of Garda (highlighted by an orange circle) with
1.51cell/km2/3yr. This finding confirms that the Lake Garda FORALPS target area is a preferred
region for convective activity: a global maximum has been found for this area for cells which were
likely to produce hail (see Figures 20 and 21). However, this value is likely to underestimated due
to the beam-blocking exerted by the mountain barriers north of Verona and Brescia and to the
beam height increasing with distance from the RADAR.
25
Figure 21. Cell count on a lat/lon grid with a mesh size of 0.1°×0.1°. The color scale is in
percent of the maximum number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax,
reported in the lower right). Upper left: warm season (May-Sep) 2005; upper
right: warm season 2006; lower left: warm season 2007; lower right: total
counts.
4.3.2 Daily convective activity

The daily convective activity for each month of the period May-September of the three years
2005-2007 is reported in Figure 32-35.
Each diagram reports the number of detections per day in any part of the RADAR domain. June
2005 aside, unusually poor of storm cells, the convective activity is quite frequent and periods of
prolonged activity are also common.
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4.4 Stratification with respect to various parameters
In this section the climatology has been stratified according to different months of the warm
season and to various cell attributes. This allows to obtain not only a distribution of convective
activity but also an estimate of the risk of severe threats associated with convection. Histograms
showing the number of cells as a function of the cell lifetime, maximum reflectivity, probability of
hail and severe hail have been produced. The examples we provide here confirm that the capability
to make a diversified query and a versatile graphic representation of the cell attributes is the real
force of the analysis software we devised.
4.4.1 Months
The histogram in Figure 22 shows the monthly variation of the convective activity for all the cells
and for different duration of cells as tracked by SCIT (duration < 1h, 1-3 h, > 3h) for the
convective months of the three years 2005,2006 and 2007. August turns out to be the month with
the greater number of storm cells.
4.4.2 Lifetimes
The histogram in Figure 23 shows the number of cells as function of the lifetime (age) estimated
by the algorithm. The first class includes the cells detected by a single RADAR scan. They have
been considered apart since they are due, at least partially, to wrong time associations by the
algorithm. Remarkably, a cell with a lifetime exceeding 9 hours has been tracked (highlighted by
an orange circle).
Figure 22. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the individual warm season
months and of different cell lifetime (“all duration” in blue, “< 1h” in red, “1-
3h” in grey and “> 3h” in yellow) for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
27
4.4.3 Intensity
The histogram in Figure 24 shows the number of cells as function of the maximum reflectivity for
the whole period (May-September 2005,2006 and 2007). The reflectivity bins are 5 dBZ wide. The
first bin starts from 30 dBZ since this is the first threshold used by the algorithm for cell
identification. The distribution looks “normal” since most of the cells are in the central part, the
most populated class being between 40 and 45 dBZ.
Figure 23. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the lifetime (age) for the sample
period May-Sep 2005-2007. Note that a cell with a lifetime exceeding 9 hours
has been tracked (highlighted by an orange circle).
Figure 24. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the maximum reflectivity for the
sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
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4.4.4 Probability of hail and severe hail

The histogram in Figure 25 shows the number of cells as function of the Probability of Hail (POH)
estimated by the algorithm. The POH is based on the well known the Waldvogel (1979) criterion:
the higher the 45 dBZ echo level above the freezing level, the higher the POH. The first bin
includes cells with probability strictly equal to 0. Only cells satisfying the condition max{dBZ} >
50 dBZ have been considered, to take into account only the cells for which the occurrence of hail
can be suspected. Without imposing this condition, the number of counts into the lower bins would
be overwhelming. The final distribution looks very sharp, i.e. values close to the extremes of the
range are more probable. However, it must be remarked that the POH is underestimated in the
“cone of silence” that surrounds the RADAR site, where the height of the cells is also
underestimated. This effect has not been quantified so far.
Figure 25. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the probability of hail with the
conditions Zmax ≥ 50 dBZ for the sample period May-Sep 2005-2007.
Figure 26. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the probability of severe hail (>2
cm) with the conditions Zmax ≥ 55 dBZ for the sample period May-Sep
2005-2007.
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The histogram in Figure 26 shows the number of cells as function of the Probability of Severe Hail
(POSH) estimated by the algorithm. The POSH is defined for hail>2 cm in diameter and is found
computing the “hail kinetic energy” parameter and using it in a weighting function that take into
account the heights of the 0 and -20°C temperature levels. The first bin includes cells with
probability strictly equal to 0. As before, the condition max{dBZ} > 55 dBZ has been imposed to
take into account only cells for which severe hail can be suspected. First bin apart, most of the
times the probability ranges between 25 and 50%. Only in very small percentage of cases the
POSH exceeds the 75%. Like the POH and for the same reason the POSH is underestimated in the
cone of silence that surrounds the RADAR site.
4.5 Evaluation of the COSMO LAMI convective precipitation
A first comparison of the convective component of the COSMO LAMI quantitative precipitation
forecast (QPF) for the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005, 2006 and 2007 was performed. As SCIT
does not record quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE), reflectivity information was converted
to rainfall rates using a Marshall-Palmer convective Z-R relation (Z=aR^b, a=300, b=1.4). This
should give a rough estimate of the rainfall amounts produced by convection and be indicative for
the rainfall distribution. This was compared with the convective component of the LAMI QPF and,
for reference, with the rain gauge accumulations of the CMT observing network.
The main purpose of this comparison is first to evaluate the skill of the COSMO LAMI in the
forecast of the convective component of precipitations, with a specific attention to the
geographical distributions of seasonal maxima, and then a coarse evaluation of the overall
accumulations.
An eye-ball verification was performed between the precipitation maps derived from the SCIT
algorithm, the COSMO LAMI convective QPF, and the rain gauges network. For the present
work, the accumulations for each month of the warm season (May-September) of the years 2005,
2006 and 2007, the accumulations for each warm season and the total accumulation of the three
warm seasons together (15 months) were analyzed. All these precipitation maps are reported in
Figures 36-38.
The comparison between the SCIT-derived QPE maps with the rain gauge accumulations of the
CMT observing network reveals a good agreement in the geographical position of the maximum
amounts of precipitation. On the other hand, these amounts are often different. This problem can
descend from differences between the two QPE methods, or from limits of the RADAR
measurements, or again from the scattered distribution of rain gauges. In the case of a small storm,
for instance, it is possible that the most severe part of it wasn’t recorded by any of the rain gauges.
On the other hand, the rain gauges record also stratiform precipitation, which is not identified by
SCIT. In the periods we consider (summer season) stratiform precipitation events are a very small
part of total amounts, except for the month of May; actually the comparison of SCIT-derived QPE
with the rain gauge network underlines the different nature of events in the month of May.
Moreover, the SCIT identification capability, giving information on a 0.1°×0.1° lat/lon grid,
allows to map specific features in the spatial distribution of the mean convective activity, at a scale
smaller than what is possible with the rain gauge network. An example is the “channel” of
relatively low amount of convective rain, corresponding to low cell density, over the southern part
of the Valsugana (see Figure 27), and not visible in the maps from the rain gauges. This effect is
likely due to the specific morphology of the area.
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Figure 27. Total SCIT-derived QPE for the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005-2007. The red
ellipse highlights a channel of low precipitation quantitative in the southern
part of Valsugana.
To summarize, the comparison with the accumulated values from the rain gauge network confirms
the goodness of SCIT-derived convective precipitation, in the limits given by the difference of
estimation methods. Cases of convective precipitations in the area of good visibility of RADAR
give the best agreement.
For the same periods (May-Sep 2005-2006-2007, total amount for each warm season, total amount
for the 3 warm seasons together) the COSMO LAMI maps of accumulated convective rain were
considered. The 24-hours convective rain for each daily run of the model was considered. The
QPE and QPF maps for the total period (sum of 3 warm seasons) are shown in Figure 28 (other
maps are available in the Figures 36-38).
May-September 2005-2007
COSMO LAMI convective QPF SCIT-derived QPE Rain Gauge QPE
Figure 28. Left panel shows the total convective component of COSMO LAMI QPF for
the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005-2007, the middle panel shows the SCIT-
derived QPE and the right panel shows the rain gauge accumulation of the
CMT rain gauge network for the same period
31
The main findings for the COSMO LAMI model convective rain are summarized in the following:
– The QPF maxima from the model are located prevalently in the Alpine and Prealpine
areas of the Veneto region, whereas the minima are observed on the southern plains; this
general distribution is in good agreement with QPE derived from SCIT data and from the
rain gauge network.
– Most of the areas in which SCIT shows frequent convective activity present a high
seasonal cumulation in the convective rain forecast of the model (see Figure 29).
– The orographic forcing over the Alpine areas appears quite clearly in the convective
component of the COSMO LAMI model. This kind of forcing generates specific features
in the distributions of the convective precipitation, showing maxima (over the total period
of 15 months) up to 2000-2200 mm, against 1000-1200 mm in the vicinity. This kind of
features is not well confirmed in the maps of rain gauge or SCIT-derived QPE (Figure
30).
– The Adriatic sea seems to give a further contribution to convective forcing in the model
parametrization. This is clearly visible by observing the relative maximum in the
convective component of rain located above the northern Adriatic sea (about 1300-1500
mm in the whole period). Such frequent convective activity is not confirmed by the SCIT
detections, while the rain gauges in this area are not available.
– In comparison with the SCIT-derived QPE and rain gauge network QPE maps, the
COSMO LAMI model presents a flatter distribution of convective precipitation in the
plain. This difference is quite evident in the central part of Veneto region, where the
SCIT-derived and the rain gauge network QPEs indicate a more frequent incidence of
convective phenomena with respect to the rest of the plains (total amount of 1300-1500
mm), while the COSMO LAMI total amount is around to 600-800 mm, very similar to
the rest of the plain of Veneto region.
Figure 29. The left panel shows convective component of the COSMO LAMI QPF for
the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005-2007. The right panel is the SCIT-derived
QPE for the same period. The circles highlight the area of Prealps of Brescia
(red) and Vicenza (brown).
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Figure 30. The left panel shows the orography of the model COSMO LAMI for northern
Veneto, with isolines every 50 meters. The right panel shows the same area
with the COSMO LAMI convective QPF for the warm seasons May-Sep
2005-2007 overlayed; the color scale starts from 1400 mm to allow a visual
reference of the highest accumulations.
5 Summary and conclusions
It is well-known that even a dense network of ground stations could not offer the opportunity of
studying convection in detail. Only high resolution RADAR data can give proper information on
such kind of phenomena, including 3-D features. Provided a significant (multi-seasonal) set of data
is available and a user-friendly tool for elaboration is applied, a unique climatology of convection
and related phenomena can be set up.
The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm has been exploited to construct a
detailed climatology of convection over the Teolo-Mt.Grande RADAR domain, roughly
corresponding to the Veneto region in north-eastern Italy. Cells identified by the algorithm were
accounted and referenced in space and time, and a cell density function was derived. An off-line
version of the SCIT algorithm has been implemented to collect and archive data in a systematic
way. A flexible web-based analysis tool has been devised to inquire the SCIT database according
to cell attributes. This tool allows the user to select cells for selected periods of time and stratify
them according to one or several of the about 40 parameters.
RADAR volumes for the summer seasons 2005, 2006 and 2007 were analyzed to document the
convective activity in terms of the presence of cells over the CMT Mt.Grande RADAR domain. In
more detail, the preferred times of the day, geographical distribution, dependence from the month
and tracks of convective storms were identified by mean of the SCIT. The main findings are
summarized below.
33
– The developed analysis software is a valuable tool to construct a multi-year climatology

of convective activity over the RADAR domain of Mt.Grande. The data extraction form
is a versatile interface that allows to inquire the database of cells attributes, assigned by
the SCIT algorithm. Several parameters can be conveniently displayed on easily
understandable diagrams, and a detailed characterization of convection can be derived.
– A systematic verification of the cell identification capability performed over the period
June-August 2005 led to results dependent on the choice of the algorithm (lowest
reflectivity threshold for cell identification). Without posing restrictions to the cell
intensity, the probability of detection (POD) results 60%; however for hail producing
cells a score around 90% has been obtained. Hence, SCIT appears as a valuable tool to
construct a climatology of convective cells in the RADAR domain. The high resolution of
RADAR data, along with the multi-reflectivity threshold-based rule we used for cell
identification, depicts the SCIT algorithm as an ideal tool to map the distribution of the
single convective cells over the RADAR domain.
– The convective activity in Veneto was documented for the warm seasons 2005, 2006 and
2007. The overall density map of the warm seasons highlights the province of Vicenza,
north west of the RADAR, as the area with the highest frequency of convective activity.
In terms of the number of cells per square kilometre this area was hit, in the three years
period, by 3 cells, against a value of 1cell/km2/3yr relatively to the entire RADAR
domain. The area with the least frequent convective activity turned out to be the province
of Rovigo, in the south.
– A relative maximum in the overall cell density map has been found west of the Lake of
Garda with 1.5cell/km2/3yr. This finding confirms that the Lake Garda FORALPS target
area is a preferred region for convective activity.
– Significant month-to-month variability can be detected. In particular, months with a
predominance of thermal convection which affects mainly the mountainous parts of
Veneto (e.g. Jul 2006) are distinctly different from months where a synoptic influence
prevails (e.g. Sep 2006). August appears to be the month with highest convective activity.
– The time of the day with most pronounced convective activity seems to be in the late
afternoon / evening. The minimum, on the other hand, corresponds to the morning hours.
– In order to overcome a cell detection bias in regions close to the RADAR, a spatial filter
must be used. The size of the reflectivity scale filter used by SCIT needs to be chosen as a
trade off between efficiency of detecting cells at longer ranges and over-counting cells
close to the RADAR. For the present study a 3 km filter size was preferred to a 5 km
filter size, because it performed more reliably on a number of cases examined and missed
less cells at longer ranges (e.g. over the mountains to the northwest). However, the cell
count with the 3 km filter size is roughly twice as high as with 5 km, hence it may still
suffer from over-detection at closer ranges. This is consistent with the rather bell-shaped
distribution of the two-warm season data set.
– A first comparison with the convective component of the COSMO LAMI quantitative
precipitation forecast (QPF) for the warm seasons (May-Sep) 2005, 2006 and 2007 was
performed. As SCIT does not record quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE),
reflectivity information associated with the cells was converted to rain using a convective
Z-R relation. This SCIT-derived QPE was compared with the convective component of
the LAMI QPF and, for reference, with the rain gauge accumulations of the CMT
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Technical Reports
observing network. An eye-ball verification revealed that the QPF maxima are located
prevalently in the Alpine and Prealpine areas of the Veneto region, whereas the minima
are observed on the southern plains; this general distribution is in good agreement with
QPE derived from SCIT and the rain gauge network. SCIT-derived QPE maps agree
reasonably well with the rain gauge accumulations of the CMT observing network, at
least about the geographical position of the maximum amounts of precipitation.
The cell identification method we used suffers from some limitations. These be traced back to the
limits of the RADAR measurements, i.e.:
– decreasing resolution with range: storms close to the RADAR tend to be detected as
multiple distinct cells, as opposed to those that are far away. Smaller cells far from the
RADAR can instead be missed. This positive bias is partially overcome by filtering the
data in order to reduce resolution close to the RADAR;
– increasing beam height with range: low topped cells far from the RADAR can be missed;
the cell densities have a negative bias increasing with range;
– beam blocking over the mountains: partially screened cells may not match the algorithm’s
rules for identification; this may result in a negative bias over the mountains.
The cell tracking method still needs to be examined in detail; as mentioned before, cell tracking
would be an important part of a climatological study of convection, and therefore needs to be
studied in depth in the future.
The next steps of this analysis also include:
– exploiting CMT’s complete RADAR data archive (provided a quality control procedure is
applied) to obtain a significant climatology along with a probability of occurrence of
storm cells;
– evaluating the SCIT algorithm on cases stratified into categories as: isolated storms,
Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS), supercells and squall lines.
35
Figure 31.
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Figure 32. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the day for the sample period of
June 2005 (upper row), June 2006 (middle row), and June 2007 (third row).
.
37
Figure 33. Number of SCIT detections as a function of the day for the sample period of July
2005 (upper row), July 2006 (middle row), and July 2007 (third row).
.
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Technical Reports
August 2005 (upper row), August 2006 (middle row), and August 2007 (third
row).
.
39
Sepetember 2005 (upper row), September 2006 (middle row), and September
2007 (third row).
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Figure 36.
41
Figure 37.
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Figure 38.
43
6 References
Giaiotti, D. B., M. Giovannoni, A. Pucillo, and F. Stel, 2007: The Climatology of tornadoes and
waterspouts in Italy. Atm. Res., 83, 534-541.
Tuovinen, J., J. Teittinen, A.-J.Punkka, and H. Hohti, 2006: A Climatology of large hail in
Finland. Preprints, 32nd Conf. on RADAR Met., AMS, Albuquerque.
Johnson, J. T., P. L. MachKeen, A. Witt, E. E. Mitchell, G. J. Stumpf, M. E. Eilts, and K. W.
Thomas, 1998: The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking algorithm: an enhanced WSR-88D
algorithm. Weather and Forecasting, 13, 263-276
Waldovogel A., Federer B. and Grimm P., 1979: Criteria for the detection of hail cells. Journal of
Applied Meteorology, 18, 1521-1525
7 Acronyms
CMT Meteorological Centre of Teolo

COSMO-LAMI Consortium for Small-scale Modeling Limited Area Model Italy
DB Database
GIS Geographic Information System
HDSS HydroMet Decision Support System
POD Probability of Detection
QPE Quantitative Precipitation Estimates
QPF Quantitative Precipitation Forecast
SCIT Storm Cell Identification and Tracking Algorithm
VIL Vertically Integrated Liquid water equivalent
WXML Weather Objects Markup Language
XML Extensible Markup Language
44
May 2005 Jun 2005 Jul 2005 Aug 2005 Sep 2005
Nmax=15 Nmax=16 Nmax=32 Nmax=44 Nmax=61
Figure 31. Cell density maps for the individual warm season months 2005 (upper row), 2006 (middle row) and 2007 (third row)
performed on a lat/lon grid with a mesh size of 0.1°x 0.1° (8x11 km). The color scale is in percent of the maximum
number of cells detected in one grid point (Nmax, reported in the upper right).
May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005
LAMI convective QPF
SCIT-derived QPE
Rain gauge QPE
Figure 36. Convective component of COSMO LAMI QPF (upper row), SCIT-derived QPE (middle row) and rain gauge
accumulation of the CMT observing network (third row) for the individual warm season months 2005.
May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007
LAMI convective QPF
SCIT-derived QPE
Rain gauge QPE
Figure 37. Convective component of COSMO LAMI QPF (upper row), SCIT-derived QPE (middle row) and rain gauge
accumulation of the CMT observing network (third row) for the individual warm season months 2007.
May –Sep 2005 May –Sep 2006 May –Sep 2007 May –Sep 2005-07
LAMI convective QPF
SCIT-derived QPE
Rain gauge QPE
Figure 38. As in Figure 36 for the entire warm season (May-Sep) 2005, 2006 and 2007. Figure 39. As in Fig. 36 for the
warm seasons May-Sep
2005-07 combined.
Foralps Partnership
UniTN University of Trento

(Lead partner) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering www.ing.unitn.it
Italian Agency for Environmental Protection

APAT and Technical Services www.apat.gov.it
Regional Agency for Environmental Protection

Lombardia
ARPALombardia Meteorological Service-Hydrographic Office www.arpalombardia.it

ARPAV Veneto www.arpa.veneto.it
Environmental Agency of the

EARS Republic of Slovenia www.arso.gov.si

Friuli-Venezia Giulia
OSMER Regional Meteorological Observatory www.osmer.fvg.it
Autonomous Province of Bolzano

PAB Hydrographic Office www.provincia.bz.it
Autonomous Province of Trento

PAT Office for Forecasts and Organization www.meteotrentino.it
Valle d’Aosta Autonomous Region

RAVA Meteorological Office www.regione.vda.it
Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics:

ZAMG-I Regional Office for Tirol and Vorarlberg

ZAMG-K Regional Office for Carinthia

ZAMG-S Regional Office for Salzburg and Oberösterreich

ZAMG-W Regional Office for Wien, Niederösterreich and Burgenland www.zamg.ac.at
The project FORALPS pursued improvements in the knowledge of weather and
climate processes in the Alps, required for a more sustainable management
of their water resources. The FORALPS Technical Reports series presents the
original achievements of the project, and provides an accessible introduction to
selected topics in hydro-meteorological monitoring and analysis.
a
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A Radar - Based Climatology of Convective Activity in The Veneto Region

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A RADAR – BASED

Michela CALZA, Alberto DALLA FONTANA,

Cover design: Marco Aniello

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2.1 The SCIT Algorithm

The SCIT algorithm, described in detail in Johnson et al (1998), implements a 3D centroid

Table 1. List of the attributes available in the SCIT cell table.

StationID RADAR name

2.2 The Mt Grande RADAR archive

2.3 Construction of a convection database

2.4 The numerical weather prediction model COSMO LAMI

3.1 Structural overview of the analysis software

Realtime SYSTEMATIC THUNDERSTORM CLIMATOLOGY

Figure 5. General flow diagram of the developed analysis software.

3.2 Graphical user interface

3.3.1 Density maps of convective activity

3.3.3 Other examples

4.1 Sensitivity to and tuning of the reflectivity scale filter

4.2 Verification of the SCIT detection capability

4.3 Building a climatology of convective activity

4.3.1 Monthly and warm season density maps of convective activity

4.3.2 Daily convective activity

4.4 Stratification with respect to various parameters

4.4.4 Probability of hail and severe hail

4.5 Evaluation of the COSMO LAMI convective precipitation

5 Summary and conclusions

– The developed analysis software is a valuable tool to construct a multi-year climatology

CMT Meteorological Centre of Teolo

Nmax=15 Nmax=16 Nmax=32 Nmax=44 Nmax=61

Nmax=28 Nmax=26 Nmax=43 Nmax=51 Nmax=32

Nmax=44 Nmax=42 Nmax=35 Nmax=49 Nmax=38

UniTN University of Trento

Italian Agency for Environmental Protection

Regional Agency for Environmental Protection

Regional Agency for Environmental Protection

Environmental Agency of the

Regional Agency for Environmental Protection

Autonomous Province of Bolzano

Autonomous Province of Trento

Valle d’Aosta Autonomous Region

Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics:

Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics:

Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics:

Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics:

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