Distribution and Diurnal Variation of Warm-Season Short-Duration Heavy Rainfall in Relation to the MCSs in China

Short-duration heavy rainfall (SDHR) is a type of severe convective weather that often leads to substantial losses of property and life. We derive the spatiotemporal distribution and diurnal variation of SDHR over China during the warm season (April-September) from quality-controlled hourly raingauge data taken at 876 stations for 19 yr (1991-2009), in comparison with the diurnal features of the mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) derived from satellite data. The results are as follows. 1) Spatial distributions of the frequency of SDHR events with hourly rainfall greater than 10-40 mm are very similar to the distribution of heavy rainfall (daily rainfall 50 mm) over mainland China. 2) SDHR occurs most frequently in South China such as southern Yunnan, Guizhou, and Jiangxi provinces, the Sichuan basin, and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, among others. Some SDHR events with hourly rainfall 50 mm also occur in northern China, e.g., the western Xinjiang and central-eastern Inner Mongolia. The heaviest hourly rainfall is observed over the Hainan Island with the amount reaching over 180 mm. 3) The frequency of the SDHR events is the highest in July, followed by August. Analysis of pentad variations in SDHR reveals that SDHR events are intermittent, with the fourth pentad of July the most active. The frequency of SDHR over mainland China increases slowly with the advent of the East Asian summer monsoon, but decreases rapidly with its withdrawal. 4) The diurnal peak of the SDHR activity occurs in the later afternoon (1600-1700 Beijing Time (BT)), and the secondary peak occurs after midnight (0100-0200 BT) and in the early morning (0700-0800BT); whereas the diurnal minimum occurs around late morning till noon (1000-1300 BT). 5) The diurnal variation of SDHR exhibits generally consistent features with that of the MCSs in China, but the active periods and propagation of SDHR and MCSs differ in different regions. The number and duration of local maxima in the diurnal cycles of SDHR and MCSs also vary by region, with single, double, and even multiple peaks in some cases. These variations may be associated with the differences in large-scale atmospheric circulation, surface conditions, and land-sea distribution.