Analysis of extreme rainfall in Barcelona using a microscale rain gauge network

Extreme storms registered by the urban rain guage network installed and supported by CLABSA (Clavegueram de Barcelona S A) in Barcelona in the period 1994-2001 have been investigated Eleven rain events presenting intensities for durations between 5 min and 24 h with return periods equal to or larger than 5 years foot ally of the network gauges have beets found A cluster analysis has yielded four main classes of extreme rainfall events Ill this area. related to the meteorological scales involved. local (18%), mesoscale (37%) and synoptic storms (27%), as well :IS more complex rails events originated by multiscale mechanisms acting together (18%). An Intensity index to classify extreme rainfall events in order to their complexity and severity, taking into account the contribution of the different scales implied Ill the rainfall processes, has heels calculated. The frequency distribution of the intensity Index values obtained for the urban network has resulted very similar to that calculated for rails data recorded by the Jardi gauge of the Observatory Fabra of Barcelona during 1927-1992 inclusive Copyright (C) 2009 Royal Meteorological Society