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On the appearance of a cold front with a narrow rainband in the vicinity of the Alps

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Summary

First intensive observations of a narrow cold frontal rainband in southern Germany are described. The observations by Doppler radar and surface observations are in good agreement with others made in Great Britain and at the west coast of the United States. There are no principal differences between the observations close to the sea and those during the passage of the front across the Alpine foreland. The observed coexistence of short and elongated precipitation cells is explained by the local modification of convergence and vorticity. When approaching the Alps the precipitation patterns increased in size due to the upslope winds, and the pre-frontal low-level jet is reorganized completely in a manner such that the cross-frontal circulation was enhanced while the pre-frontal low-level jet disappeared.

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  1. M. Hagen

    Present address: Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, DLR, D-W-8031, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

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    Hagen, M. On the appearance of a cold front with a narrow rainband in the vicinity of the Alps. Meteorl. Atmos. Phys. 48, 231–248 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029571

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029571

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