A Model of Summer Convection in South Florida

Abstract

Hourly frequency distributions of range-corrected PPI arid multi-level CAPPI radar weather echoes during July 1968 are used to model the summer convective regime in South Florida. The month of July is chosen as being a typical summer month with minimum contamination from frontal penetrations, easterly waves and the like. The resulting convection, therefore, is largely governed by the trade-wind flow and its interaction with the sea-breeze regime. The distributions reveal preferred north-south, quasi-stationary zones of convection, oriented parallel to the coast and approximately 15 n mi apart, where echoes increase in frequency and in height. The preferred zones, which shift slightly but in unison and nearly in synchronization with the development and decay of the sea breeze during the day, are thought to be induced by a combination of dynamic and thermodynamic effects.