Numerical simulation of Crotone Flood:storm evolution

A nested-grid primitive equation model (RAMS, version 4.3) is used to simulate a high-precipitation (HP) storm which occurred in Calabria, southern Italy. Storm produced intense rainfall over the city of Crotone, in the central Ionian coast of Calabrian peninsula, during the morning of 14 October 1996. Precipitation spell lasted for two hours, was highly localized and rainfall rates were intense (> 60 mm/h). The aim of this paper is to reproduce precipitation measured by rain-gauges and to highlight local and synoptic conditions that determined the storm, in order to acquire insight into the convective environment that produced the event. Four telescoping nested grids allow to simulate scales ranging from the synoptic scale down to the high-precipitation storm. All convection in the simulation is initiated by resolving explicitly vertical motion and subsequent condensation-latent heating from the model microphysics; no warm bubbles are used to start or trigger the storm. The model is able to well simulate measured precipitation both in terms of total precipitation and rain intensity. Also the position of the major spell is acceptable.