Nowcasting Thunderstorms for Munich Airport

Kurzfassung

The successful demonstration and assessment of the DLR thunderstorm nowcasting algorithms at Munich Airport during two campaigns in the summers of 2010 and 2011 are described. The algorithms Cb-TRAM and Rad-TRAM, that detect, monitor, and forecast up to one hour (nowcast) thunderstorm cells from satellite and radar data, run in real time and provided new thunderstorm products for users at the airport. The products were presented on displays the users were already familiar with as well as on webpages designed by DLR. On the webpages, also additional information like measurements with DLR’s polarimetric radar and model forecasts was shown. Moreover, thunderstorm warnings were is-sued and sent via email to the users whenever a thunderstorm was detected in the terminal manoeu-vring area of the airport of Munich. The nowcasting skills of Rad-TRAM and Cb-TRAM are encouraging, especially for lead times up to 30 minutes, and the user feedback on the DLR thunderstorm products was very positive. The Rad-TRAM and Cb-TRAM products provide a good overview on the situation and its future development, and the thunderstorm warnings were very helpful for the collaborative decision making at the airport. However, some suggestions for improvements were made like the demand for nowcasts beyond one hour. This will be considered within the integrated weather forecast system, WxFUSION, which has been further developed during the campaigns.