Case: 22 October 2016

Summary

Open cell cumulus event with relatively small gaps observed between cells

Description

Widespread open cell (cold air outbreak) cumulus event that followed a frontal passage. Cells exhibited relatively small gaps (spatially) between the precipitating cells. Winds were primarily from the north and strong (>30 kts) throughout the event. The melting level was at approx. 2.0 km AGL at the start of this event, lowering to 1.5 km by midday. Observed cloud echo top heights were typically below the melting level (prior to 12 UTC), transitioning or deepening to slightly above this melting level (after 12 UTC). Select high clouds were observed throughout the event by SEVIRI, associated with the frontal passage that happened the prior day.

Available assets

Standard ARM profiling assets, SEVIRI

Critical period: 12:00-18:00

Shallow open cell cumulus with light precipitation

Figure 48 True color afternoon MODIS AQUA image with overlaid LES domains. The image area corresponds to the 5° region sampled for the larger forcing option. The yellow and orange boxes correspond to the sizes of the 25 km and 102 km LES domains, respectively.