Differences between Some Radar-Rainfall Estimation Procedures in a High Rain Rate Gradient Storm

Abstract

Radar and gage data from a convective storm were analyzed with the objective of examining how much gage-estimated and radar-estimated rainfall differ in a high rainfall-rate gradient situation considering 1) the location and size of the radar contributing area, 2) whether radar-estimated rainfall was computed using maximum, average or integrated values, and 3) the radar reflectivity factor threshold. Differences exceeding a factor of 6 and 3 have been observed for individual gages and for the mean of 17 gages, respectively.