Assimilating Doppler Weather Radar Data for a Hailstorm Event in Bayannur, China

Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) observations of a severe hailstorm were assimilated in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, the three dimensional variational (3D-Var) assimilation is the more common approach. The hailstorm occurred in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, China, during August 9-10, 2019. The processes of formation, development, and dissipation of the hail-cloud were analyzed, simulated, and discussed in this study. The simulation and assimilation results were verified against X-band dual-linear polarization radar observations. The Morrison and Milbrandt parameterization scheme is applied to simulate synoptic process. In this paper, comparative experiments are set to analysis the impact with and without assimilation of doppler weather radar data on hail simulation:1) control experiment (CTL): without data assimilation; 2) assimilate reflectivity and radial velocity together. The result shows that the Morrison and Milbrandt parameterization scheme can simulate the hail weather process well; at the time when hail occurred, there were strong vertical wind shear, small precipitation amount, low freezing layer, the potential temperature decreases with the height, and the radar echo intensity was around 60dBZ. The hail simulation is improved significantly after assimilation of doppler radar reflectivity and radial velocity.