CONVECTIVE STORM INITIATION OVER THE SIERRAS DE CÓRDOBA AND SENSITIVITY TO CHANGES IN THE OROGRAPHIC PROFILE
Henrique Fuchs Bueno Repinaldo, Matilde Nicolini y Yanina García Skabar
Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera (CIMA), CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
UMI IFAECI/CNRS, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Manuscript received on 30th December 2015, in final form on 27th May 2016
ABSTRACT
In this paper we present a high resolution analysis, using the WRF model, of a convective system initiation which has developed over the Sierras de Córdoba on the afternoon of October 29, 2013. It affected the region with strong wind gusts, heavy rain and hail fall. In this particular case, the storm was developed in an environment characterized by the presence of low pressure near the Cordillera and the low level jet, and moisture convergence over Córdoba. The system initiation was mainly favoured by the presence of mountain breezes, which in its diurnal phase helped to bring moisture up to the top of the Sierras, and to produce the necessary convergence for the updrafts to reach the LFC. The presence of mountain waves and their interaction with waves generated by the convection itself, also have an important role in the development of deep convection. The sensitivity experiments showed that the orogenic initiation is very sensitive to the amount of moisture reaching the top, to the intensity of the convergence produced by the breeze and to the thickness between the ground and the LFC.