Storm Cell Observation and Prediction Using Polarimetric Weather Radars

Conventionally, the short term prediction of precipitation (or nowcast) observed by a network of weather radars is conducted by means of advection schemes. Such schemes often lead to underestimated areas of predicted precipitation cells and they do not include the vertical structure of the cells, which can carry important information on the evolution of precipitation. To mitigate such limitations on nowcasts, storm cells have been treated as 3D targets, allowing the exploitation of their vertical and dynamic structure. In this work, storm cell targets are identified and tracked from 2D reflectivity nationwide fields collected by the German meteorological service DWD. Then, the vertical structure of the cells are analyzed in terms of the polarimetric-based differential reflectivity ZDR-column, which is a predictor of potential changes in precipitation. Knowing the location and tendency of storm cells and their associated ZDR columns, the nowcast skills can be further imp roved, mainly in localized regions.