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In the classical model of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), a system generates new convective cells on the downshear side of its cold pool, with the cells fed at low levels from the front, and the stratiform cloud trailing behind the system in the upshear direction, where "front" and "behind" typically refer to the system's ground-relative velocity. In this study we present an algorithm for identifying and tracking MCSs in radar reflectivity data, and objectively diagnosing organizational characteristics related to the classical model, namely, the offset of stratiform cloud from convective cloud relative to system velocity, the low-level inflow direction, and the shear-relative tilt and propagation directions. When applied to the 15-yr radar record covering the Darwin region of northern Australia, the algorithm indicates that 65%–80% of MCS observations are consistent with the classical model, at least when the four classifications can be made unambiguously. However, these observed characteristics occur almost entirely in the drier phases of the Australian monsoon. During the humid, active monsoon phase, observed characteristics consistent with the classical model are rare, and most systems exhibit nonclassical upshear propagation. Significance Statement: In this study we developed a computer program for tracking large storms in radar data. The program tracks storms through time and space, recording their three-dimensional structure. Knowledge of this structure allows our program to automatically put storms into different, commonly used categories. These categories provide clues about the processes that can make storms grow, persist, or decay. Our computer program is useful because the classification process is very time consuming when done by humans. Also, when applied to radar datasets from northern Australia, our program suggests most large storms are consistent with standard theories of what make storms grow and persist. However, when the air is very humid, large storms inconsistent with standard theories become common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationships between the diurnal precipitation cycle, local morning insolation, and local and large‐scale moisture availability using local radiative flux and precipitation observations from three forested tropical sites, together with ERA5 reanalysis data. Our results suggest that, away from the coast, there is a weak positive correlation between local morning insolation and the magnitude of the afternoon precipitation peak, and a weak negative relationship between locally observed surface moisture in the morning and the magnitude of the afternoon precipitation peak. There is little relationship between large‐scale column moisture and the local afternoon precipitation peak. We examine analogous results in convection‐permitting simulations. Results suggest that the simulated afternoon precipitation rate shows almost no dependence on surface radiative forcing or moisture availability, while the observed afternoon precipitation rate is dominated by radiative forcing. Simulated and observed satellite precipitation and cloud estimates for a single case study suggest a diversity of surface‐flux–precipitation relationships amongst model configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT High-quality tall mast and wind lidar measurements over the North and Baltic Seas are used to validate the wind climatology produced from winds simulated by the Weather, Research and Forecasting ( WRF) model in analysis mode. Biases in annual mean wind speed between model and observations at heights around 100 m are smaller than 3.2% at offshore sites, except for those that are affected by the wake of a wind farm or the coastline. These biases are smaller than those obtained by using winds directly from the reanalysis. We study the sensitivity of the WRF-simulated wind climatology to various model setup parameters. The results of the year-long sensitivity simulations show that the long-term mean wind speed simulated by the WRF model offshore in the region studied is quite insensitive to the global reanalysis, the number of vertical levels, and the horizontal resolution of the sea surface temperature used as lower boundary conditions. Also, the strength and form (grid vs spectral) of the nudging is quite irrelevant for the mean wind speed at 100 m. Large sensitivity is found to the choice of boundary layer parametrization, and to the length of the period that is discarded as spin-up to produce a wind climatology. It is found that the spin-up period for the boundary layer winds is likely larger than 12 h over land and could affect the wind climatology for points offshore for quite a distance downstream from the coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]