Urban Modification of Rainfall: St. Louis Revisited

Abstract:

In this study, the impacts of urbanization on rainfall are examined through analyses of high-resolution radar rainfall fields developed for the St. Louis metropolitan region. The objective of this study is to characterize the impacts of urbanization on the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall from flood-producing storm systems. Analyses are based on rainfall fields for the period 2000 – 2015 with 1 km horizontal resolution and 15-minute time resolution. Rainfall fields are developed using the Hydro-NEXRAD algorithms. We will compare results based on analyses of “recent” St. Louis radar rainfall fields with results from the METROMEX experiment. We will also compare and contrast results for St. Louis with analyses based on radar rainfall fields from other urban regions.