Atmospheric Science Letters · 2008 · 46 citations · 14 references
Natural SciencesEarth SciencesMeteorologyClimatologyHydrometeorologyNumerical Weather PredictionExtreme PrecipitationExtreme WeatherExtreme Wind EventsModel ResolutionPrecipitationSevere Weather ForecastingExtreme Wind SimulationHigh-resolution ModelingHigh-resolution Numerical Weather PredictionMountain Wind ClimatologyResolutionsSevere Weather ClimatologyWind
Abstract In this article, the ability of the Met Office Unified Model to simulate the severe weather over the South Island of New Zealand, on 8 January 2004 is investigated. Simulations were run at horizontal resolutions of between 60 and 1 km. The modelled broad‐scale rainfall and wind features, most notably the area‐averaged accumulated rainfall, were found to converge with resolution. At the highest resolutions, all the observed rainfall and wind features of this event were captured well by the model. Even the 12‐km‐resolution model is able to resolve the broad elongated ridge‐like structure of the Southern Alps and qualitatively capture the main features of the rainfall and wind fields. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown Copyright 2008, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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