Articles | Volume 2, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021
Research article
 | 
16 Dec 2021
Research article |  | 16 Dec 2021

A characterisation of Alpine mesocyclone occurrence

Monika Feldmann, Urs Germann, Marco Gabella, and Alexis Berne

Data sets

Radar-based mesocyclone detections in Switzerland from 2016-2020 M. Feldmann, U. Germann, M. Gabella, and A. Berne https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5122519

Model code and software

Thunderstorm Detection and Tracking - T-DaTing M. Feldmann and pysteps developers https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/auto_examples/thunderstorm_detection_and_tracking.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-thunderstorm-detection-and-tracking-py

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Short summary
Mesocyclones are the rotating updraught of supercell thunderstorms that present a particularly hazardous subset of thunderstorms. A first-time characterisation of the spatiotemporal occurrence of mesocyclones in the Alpine region is presented, using 5 years of Swiss operational radar data. We investigate parallels to hailstorms, particularly the influence of large-scale flow, daily cycles and terrain. Improving understanding of mesocyclones is valuable for risk assessment and warning purposes.