Analysis and Simulations of a Heavy Rainfall Event Associated with the Passage of a Shallow Front over Northern Taiwan on 2 June 2017

Abstract

Abstract From 0200 to 1000 LST 2 June 2017, the shallow, East-West oriented Mei-Yu front (< 1 km) cannot move over the Yang-Ming Mountains (with peaks ∼ 1120 m) when it first arrives. The postfrontal cold air at the surface is deflected by the Yang-Ming Mountains and moves through the Keelung River and Tamsui River valleys into the Taipei Basin. The shallow northerly winds are anchored along the northern side of the Yang-Ming Mountains for 8 hours. In addition, the southwesterly barrier jet with maximum winds in the 900–950-hPa layer brings in abundant moisture and converges with the northwesterly flow in the southwestern flank of the Mei-Yu frontal cyclone. Therefore, torrential rain (> 600 mm) occurs over the northern side of the Yang-Ming Mountains. From 1100 to 1200 LST, with the gradual deepening of the postfrontal cold air, the front finally passes over the Yang-Ming Mountains and arrives at the Taipei Basin, which results in an E-W oriented rainband with the rainfall maxima over the northwestern coast and Taipei Basin. From 1300 to 1400 LST, the frontal rainband continues to move southward with rainfall over the northwestern slopes of the Snow Mountains. In the prefrontal southwesterly flow, the orographic lifting of the moisture-laden low-level winds results in heavy rainfall on the southwestern slopes of the Snow Mountains and the Central Mountain Range. With the terrain of the Yang-Ming Mountains removed in the high-resolution model, the Mei-Yu front moves quickly southward without a rainfall maximum over the northern tip of Taiwan.