Identification of anomalous movements of thunderstorms using radar and satellite data

Abstract

One of the most adverse weather phenomena in Catalonia are thunderstorms producing severe weather phenomenon like heavy rainfalls, hail storms, or tornadoes. Sometimes, these thunderstorms seem to have marked paths although in some cases these trajectories vary sharply, changing completely the movement directions that have previously followed, either breaking into several cells, or joining into a bigger one. In order to identify the main features of the developing process of thunderstorms and the anomalous movements that these may in some cases follow, this paper presents a methodology that follows 3 main steps; previous classification of the events, cell identification, and finally, tracking of the cells identified. The methodology combines radar and satellite images.