Characteristics of precipitation over Western Ghat as observed by Doppler weather Radar and disdrometer

The structure of clouds during the convective and stratiform precipitation over the high-altitude tropical station, Mahabaleshwar, has been studied in the present paper by using Doppler weather Radar and several other in-situ measurements. The station, receiving an average annual rainfall of 5000 mm represents one of the important points of heavy precipitation belt of Western Ghats orographic region of India. It has been found that the region experiences a shallow convection with the cloud top height merely exceeding 6 km. The drop size of diameter 1–2 mm contributes more in the span of rain rate range of 2–4 mm/hr compared to other rain rate classes. Correspondingly, drops of larger diameter dominate the convective rain with respect to the stratiform one.