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<br />~ <br />Q <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />If you insert the values for PWI and the depth of the warm layer into <br />equations (2) and (3), the peak 60-minute rainfall rate is 3.42" and the peak 30- <br />minute rainfall rate is 2.38 inches. These rainfall rates are assigned to the grid <br />squares covered by radar reflectivity values of 50 dBZ or greater. Lower rainfall <br />rates are assigned to lower reflectivity values as shown in Table 2. <br /> <br />Radar <br />dBZ " Level Peak 60-min Peak 30-min <br />25 <br />30 0.72" 0.50 <br />35 1.20" 0.85 <br />40 1.92" 1.34 <br />45 2.40" 1.68 <br />50 3.36" 2.38" <br />55 3.36" 2.38" <br /> <br />Table 2 <br />Relationship Between Peak 60-Minute and Peak 30-Minute <br />Rainfall Rates and Radar Reflectivity Levels. <br /> <br />HMS utilized the Doppler radar from the National Weather Service (NWS) <br />WSR-88D located at Pueblo, Colorado. This radar is located about N115 miles <br />from the basin and provides fairly accurate radar reflectivity observations. HMS <br />notes that the Pueblo is slightly affected by the passage of its beam over higher <br />terrain to the west. HMS estimates that up to 30% of the lower half of the beam <br />may be attenuated as it shoots towards the Saguache location along a 255- <br />degree radial. However, this factor matters little as HMS does not use the <br />absolute strength of the radar reflectivity to calculate the rainfall rates but rather <br />uses the strength of the maximum reflectivity to identify the location of the <br />heaviest rainfall. The rate is calculated by the HMS 2-D cloud model. <br /> <br />As the radar reflectivity data field is received and mapped; each grid <br />square is assigned a reflectivity value of 0 through 7. Table 2 above shows the <br />reflectivity values and their associated dBZ values. <br /> <br />3.4 Analysis of Radar Reflectivity and Rainfall <br /> <br />This section will encompass an examination of the radar reflectivity <br />pattern and the rainfall pattern that accompanies it. The resolution of the radar <br />reflectivity data allows it to define the radar reflectivity for 0.65 by 0.65 square <br />mile area. Figure 6 shows a summation of the reflectivity value for each grid <br />square for the duration of the storm. Note that a rainfall rate (See Table 3) is <br />assigned to each radar reflectivity factor for each observation and the storm total <br />rainfall is a summation of these individual rainfall observations. Note that the <br />grid is segmented into an outer and inner grid and that the inner grid is split <br />along the stream location of the valley of the basin. <br /> <br />10 <br /> <br />.- <br />