Structure and maintenance of a quasi-linear mesoscale convective system that caused torrential rain in southern Kyushu, Japan on 11 July 2021

Abstract

A quasi-linear mesoscale convective system that remained nearly stationary (hereafter referred to as a stationary QLCS) for almost 8 h in southern Kyushu, Japan, caused torrential rainfall exceeding 350 mm on 11 July 2021. The stationary QLCS consisted of several rainbands organized by back-building convection. As the cold pool intensified, the system attained a more widespread structure, leaning on the upshear side. To elucidate the mechanism responsible for the upshear tilt, numerical simulations with 250-m horizontal grid spacing were conducted, including sensitivity experiments in which the evaporative cooling rates from rain were reduced to modify the cold pool intensity. Results show that the cold pool is critical to the organization of the QLCS, and the structure normal to it is mainly governed by the balance between the low-level shear magnitude and cold pool intensity, supporting the application of so-called Rotunno-Klemp-Weisman (RKW) theory to this event. The cause of the weak updraft that accompanies the leaning system over the strong cold pool was also investigated, analyzing the trajectories, vertical momentum equation, and pressure perturbation field using the anelastic equation. It is revealed that the updraft travels a longer distance through the tilted system experiencing more mixing with the ambient air, which results in less thermal buoyancy. In addition, the updraft is decelerated by the downward perturbation gradient force owing to the vertical buoyancy gradient around the sloping surface of the cold pool and the dynamical effect caused by the baroclinity-associated strong horizontal vorticity around the cold pool leading edge.