Shower effect of a rainfall onset on the heat accumulated during a preceding dry spell

What is it about?

It is generally believed that rainfall leads to a decrease in the surface and the near-surface temperature. However, to the best of our knowledge, the major scientific questions related to the shower effect were never investigated- does rain really bring down the temperature? If yes, by what magnitude? Along with these two major research questions, the current study also investigates the impact of rain on bio-meteorological relief and discusses the potential inclusion of the shower effect on weather forecasting.

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Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study provides a spatio-temporal analysis of the effect of rainfall in decreasing the high maximum and minimum temperatures across India resulting from the persistence of long dry spells. A rainfall event is able to reduce the maximum temperature by 5 °C in regions which experience frequent thunderstorms and cyclonic activities beyond the monsoon seasons. A major future application of the current study is envisioned in the incorporation of the current findings in a daily weather forecast system to achieve improved accuracies in predicting surface air temperature. The idea is to model the change in the temperature (or change in the heat index) based on a rainfall forecast conditioned on the length of the dry spell the rain succeeds.