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Flood warning and the use of weather radar in Scotland: a study of flood events in the Ruchill Water catchment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2006

Michael D. Cranston  and
Andrew R. Black
Michael D. Cranston
Affiliation:
Geography Department, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom Email: [email protected]
Andrew R. Black
Affiliation:
Geography Department, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper reports on work that demonstrates that weather radar can yield remarkably accurate rainfall measurements in Scotland. Analysis of data during 1999 and 2000 shows Nimrod radar data to have no consistent error bias and a 24% mean error in storm rainfall totals. For rivers such as the Ruchill Water in the Perthshire Highlands this highlights the fact that the observations and quality control corrections utilised by the Met Office Nimrod system may offer particular benefits in certain flood warning applications. Assessment of wind data indicates that smaller errors occur in Nimrod radar observations during lower wind speeds (less than 15 knots) and with an easterly airflow. However, errors may also be attributed to occasions when the Numerical Weather Prediction model fails to represent the wind conditions correctly at ground level.

Keywords

flood forecastingNIMRODweather radarRuchill WaterScotlandflood warning
Type
Research Article
Information
Meteorological Applications , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 43 - 52
Copyright
2006 Royal Meteorological Society

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