Diagnosing Environmental Properties of the July 2018 Heavy Rainfall Event in Japan

Abstract

This study documented the environmental properties of precipitation systems that produced the July 2018 Heavy Rainfall event in Japan. The gridded analysis data were used to diagnose the potential for the development of convective systems in terms of thermodynamic environmental indices. Precipitable water vapor was extremely larger than that seen in the climatology of warm-season quasi-stationary convective clusters (QSCCs). Such an extreme moisture content was realized by very humid conditions at the middle-levels. In contrast, temperature lapse rate in a convectively unstable layer was not so significant in comparison to the QSCC climatology. Among the environmental indices, K Index was shown to describe the potential for the rainfall development. Based on the analysis, the roles of moisture content and profile on the convection development were discussed. It was suggested that the middle-level high humidity contributes to the occurrence of the present heavy rainfall by minimizing negative effects of environmental mixing and by decreasing vertical displacements to reach levels of free convection. In regions where heavy rainfall occurred, an automated algorithm detected the development of QSCCs, which were mostly categorized as a linear type.