The impact of terrains on the precipitation of landfalling typhoon Talim (2005) over China's Mainland is investigated using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model. The simulated precipitation of simulated typhoon (the control) matches the observations closely. To compare with the control simulation, four sensitivity simulations were carried out in which terrains of Wuyi Mountain, Lushan, Dabieshan, and both Lushan and Dabieshan are completely removed respectively, but other surface properties were retained. It is found that the complex terrains of Wuyi Mountain, Lushan and Dabieshan have a significant impact on the rainfall intensity and distribution of Talim. As the terrains are removed, the rainfall is decreased very greatly and the rainfall in inland area is decreased much more than that in the coastal area. Besides, the rainfall distribution near the Lushan and Dabieshan is spread much more westward compared with the control simulation. Further analysis shows that the Wuyi Mountain would increase both the lower level air convergence and the upper level air divergence for Talim that just made landfall and thus it would contribute to the convection and increase rainfall intensity. It can be concluded that the terrains of Wuyi Mountain, Lushan and Dabieshan have obvious impacts on the Talim rainfall, and their impacts are different in various landfalling periods. The present study is a useful attempt to explore the influence of orography on the TCs in China's Mainland.
An observational analysis of satellite blackbody temperature （TBB） data and radar images suggests that the mesoscale vortex generation and merging process appeared to be essential for a tropical-depression-related heavy rain event in Shanghai, China. A numerical simulation reproduced the observed mesoscale vortex generation and merging process and the corresponding rain pattern, and then the model outputs were used to study the related dynamics through diagnosing the potential vorticity （PV） equation. The tropical depression （TD） was found to weaken first at lower levels and then at upper levels due to negative horizontal PV advection and diabatic heating effects. The meso-vortices developed gradually, also from the lower to the upper levels, as a result of positive horizontal PV advection and diabatic heating effects in the downshear left quadrant of the TD. One of these newly-generated vortices, V1, replaced the TD ultimately, while the other two, V2 and V3, merged due to the horizontal PV advection process. Together with the redevelopment of V1, the merging of V2 and V3 triggered the very heavy rain in Shanghai.
A quantitative scheme is put forward in our work of forecasting the storm rainfall of typhoons for specific sites.Using the initial parameters,weather situations and physical quantities as well as numerical weather prediction products,the scheme constructs multivariate,objective and similarity criteria for environmental factors for the time between the current and forthcoming moment within the domain of forecast.Through defining a non-linear similarity index,this work presents a comprehensive assessment of the similarity between historical samples of typhoons and those being forecast in terms of continuous dynamic states under the multivariate criteria in order to identify similar samples.The historical rainfall records of the similar samples are used to run weighted summarization of the similarity index to determine site-specific and quantitative forecasts of future typhoon rainfall.Samples resembling the typhoon being forecast are selected by defining a non-linear similarity index composed of multiple criteria.Trial tests have demonstrated that this scheme has positive prediction skill.
Analyzed in this paper are the 16-yr （1988-2003） tropical cyclone （TC） intensity data from three major forecast centers of the western North Pacific, i.e., China Meteorological Administration （CMA）, Regional Specialized Meteorological Center Tokyo （RSMC Tokyo）, and Joint Typhoon Warning Center （JTWC） of the United States. Results show that there are significant discrepancies （at 1% significance level） in the intensity of TCs among the three centers, with a maximum difference for the same TC over 30 m s^-1. The flight reconnaissance over TC can minish the discrepancy to some extent. A climatic and persistent prediction model is set up to study the impact of initial data from different forecast centers on the prediction of TC intensity. It is obtained that the root mean square error （RMSE） of a 4-yr independent test is the largest using data from JTWC, while the smallest using data from RSMC Tokyo. Average absolute deviation in 24-h intensity prediction is 2.5 m s^-1 between CMA and RSMC Tokyo data, and 4.0 m s^-1 between CMA and JTWC data, with a maximum deviation reaching 21 m s^-1. Such a problem in the initial value increases the difficulty in intensity prediction of TCs over the western North Pacific.
