Abstract:
This study analyzed the physical characteristics of rainfall clouds in the West Tianshan Mountains, from May 2019 to August 2020, based on the Ka-band millimeter-wave cloud radar and rainfall data from automatic weather stations. The findings demonstrate that: (1) Rainfall occurs primarily at night. The cumulative rainfall was concentrated from 2100 BJT to 0700 BJT the next day. There was a significant beneficial correlation between rainfall frequency and accumulated precipitation. The frequency of heavy rainfall was the lowest, but its contribution to total accumulated rainfall was significant. (2) The maximum average reflectivity of light, moderate, and heavy rainfall intensities were 30, 35.8, and 39.5 dB
Z, respectively, and the maximum average liquid water content was 1.5, 4.2, and 7.3 g m
−3, respectively. (3) There are two concentrated areas for the reflectivity of various rainfall intensities. The reflectivity of 2.0–4.4 km was concentrated in 15–26 dB
Z, and the reflectivity of light, moderate, and heavy rainfall intensities near the surface was respectively concentrated in 24–32 dB
Z, 29–38, and 31–42 dB
Z. The frequency of moderate and heavy rain intensity below 1.75 km, where the liquid water content is less than 1 g m
−3, is significantly lower than light rain intensity. The greater the intensity of rainfall, the more concentrated the radial velocity of rainfall particles.