Study showing how the distribution of convection near the center of hurricanes is related to wind shear and intensity change released online in Monthly Weather Review – Hurricane Research Division

This research investigates how the distribution of different types of precipitation are related to tropical cyclone (TC) intensity change. Even though deep convection – the tallest clouds – is the least frequent type of precipitation in TCs, the amount of deep convection, especially when it is evenly distributed around the TC center, has the strongest
relationship to intensity change. Less significant relationships were noticed for shallower clouds and stratiform (lighter) rain.

The study also looked at how changes in the direction of the wind with height (wind shear) around the TC influence structure and intensity change. When wind at the top of the TC is more northerly than at the bottom, there is a more even distribution of deep convection around the TC center than  when wind at the top is more southerly.

For more information, contact aoml.communication@noaa.gov. The review article can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225603223000395.