Study on the impact of mountains on rainfall and intensity of tropical cyclones released online in Monthly Weather Review – Hurricane Research Division

This paper explores the effect of mountainous terrain on the structure of a tropical cyclone eyewall by using a numerical model to simulate the landfall of a typhoon in the Central Mountain Range (CMR) of Taiwan and its reemergence over water after crossing the CMR. It was found that the presence of the CMR disrupted the eyewall, but strong thunderstorm activity tied to the flow over the CMR led to enhanced rotation and the redevelopment of the eyewall once the typhoon reemerged over water. In the absence of the CMR, thunderstorm activity was less vigorous and, while eyewall disruption was reduced, eyewall redevelopment also did not occur.

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YCW and MJY were supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan under Grants MOST 108-2625-M-052-003 and MOST 108-2111-M-002-011-MY2. RFR was supported by NOAA base funds.