R. Romero et al., NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF AN EXTREME RAINFALL EVENT IN CATALONIA - ROLEOF OROGRAPHY AND EVAPORATION FROM THE SEA, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 123(539), 1997, pp. 537-559
During the evening of 12 November 1988, heavy rainfall occurred in Cat
alonia (north-east Spain); as a result there was flooding and heavy lo
ss. In this paper we present a 12-hour numerical simulation of that ev
ent by means of a meso-beta scale numerical model. The results show th
at the model is capable of giving the localization of observed precipi
tation satisfactorily, but it underestimates the amount of rainfall. O
ther numerical experiments were done to show the effects of orography
and evaporation from the Mediterranean. The effect of orography is dec
isive as regards the spatial structure of precipitation over land, sin
ce it acts to concentrate the precipitation in the coastal zone. The e
ffect of evaporation from the sea is very weak, probably on account of
the shortness of the simulation.