The Variability of Hailfall in Catalonia and Its Climatic Implications

Abstract

In recent years, some works have forecasted the future scenario of severe weather phenomena, which include large hail. In the present manuscript, the authors focus on a region, Catalonia (NE of the Iberian Peninsula), influenced by complex topography, the Mediterranean Sea, and different air masses. These components are a complicated formula in determining the behavior of the hailfall in the Catalan territory. The events of recent years have shown that expectations and the historical context are not always the best indicators for the future, implying the necessity of the further study of hail events. Using radar fields combined with ground registers and a topographic model permits the characterization of the events in the territory. There is high seasonal and annual variability, with reduced hit areas and small vertical developments in non-summer cases. All these factors are not well solved by the spatial resolution of the current climatic models.