Simulation of severe thunder storm event: a case study over Pune, India

Numerical simulation of a typical tropical thunder storm event at Pune (18.53°N, 73.85°E), India, has been performed using the three nested domain configuration of Weather Research and Forecasting-Advanced Research Weather Model (version 3.2). The model simulations have been compared with observations. Sensitivity to cumulus parameterization schemes, namely Betts–Miller (BM), Grell–Devenyi (GD), and Kain–Fritsch (KF), for simulation of vertical structure and time evolution of weather parameters has been evaluated using observations from automatic weather station and global positioning system radiosonde ascents. Comparison of spatial distribution of 24-h accumulated rain with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data shows that BM scheme could simulate better rain than GD and KF schemes. The BM scheme could well simulate the development of storm and heavy rain as it could generate sufficiently humid and deep layer in the lower and middle atmosphere, along with co-existence of updrafts and downdrafts and frozen hydrometeors at the middle level and rain water near the surface. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014