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Exploring the Role of Urbanization and Wind on the Distribution of Extreme Rainfall by Utilizing High Spatiotemporal Radar Rainfall Product: A Dallas Fort-Worth Case Study
  • Junaid Ahmad,
  • Jessica Eisma
Junaid Ahmad

Corresponding Author:jxa7582@mavs.uta.edu

Author Profile
Jessica Eisma

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has caused extensive land use changes, which may impact the local climatology and trigger extreme rainfall events. Wind, another important factor in rainfall, has been examined to determine its role in generating extreme rainfall in conjunction with land use changes. This study evaluates the variability of extreme rainfall in the Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW) area. The study area has been divided into 256 equal sized grids and grouped into 4 clusters. Spatial Synoptic Classification (SSC) technique has been adopted to select days with benign synoptic activity so that the role of large-scale weather patterns is reduced. Extreme rainfall days are defined as those exceeding the 95th percentile threshold of the daily rainfall observed at the DFW airport. After filtering data based on SSC and extreme rainfall criteria, 114 days are selected for the study period from 2000-2016. The Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor rainfall product has been used to examine the variability of extreme rainfall in grids and clusters. The variation in extreme rainfall for different land covers (e.g., high, medium, and low intensity developed land, and open space) has also been examined. The results reveal that the “Urban Core” cluster receives maximum rainfall across the study period. Also, the difference in cumulative maximum rainfall between highly urbanized grids and the lowest urbanized grid is highest in the “Urban Core” cluster. The grid with the highest percentage of “High intensity developed land” received the most rainfall. The wind regime associated with the most rainfall across the study period is from the South-West. Less urbanized grids located downwind of the highest urbanized grids received relatively more rainfall. Urbanization and the magnitude of extreme rainfall is proportional in most of the grids. The role of the Urban Heat Island will also be examined to determine its impact on extreme rainfall variability.  
29 Dec 2022Submitted to AGU Fall Meeting 2022
03 Jan 2023Published in AGU Fall Meeting 2022