Environmental Influences on Deep Convective Upscale Growth Rate in Central Argentina From a Convection‐Permitting Simulation

Journal article

Plain Language Summary: Understanding the environments that support spatial growth of storms is crucial for predicting their impacts. This study uses a 6.5‐month‐long high‐resolution model simulation to examine the environments of simulated storm systems separated based on their rate of spatial growth. Results show that environments with a faster growth rate have greater moisture and instability. While vertical wind shear, defined as the change in wind speed and/or direction with height, is a well‐known factor in storm organization, its magnitude does not vary strongly with growth rate when shear is averaged over a large area, likely due to the large spread in values present. However, the direction of wind shear is likely an important factor in the rate of growth, and faster spatial growth is found for storms growing near the mountains when a favorable shear direction (parallel to the mountain range) is present. A low‐level jet, an area of stronger wind speeds elevated off of the surface, is found more frequently in environments with a faster growth rate and is likely an important mechanism that facilitates differences in thermodynamics and wind shear.

Authors: Sasaki, CRS; Rowe, AK; McMurdie, LA; Varble, AC; Zhang, Z

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Journal: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Volume: 131
• Issue: 1
• Article number: e2025JD044251
• Publication date: 2025-12-31
• Acceptance date: 2025-12-11
• DOI: 10.1029/2025jd044251
• EISSN: 2169-8996
• ISSN: 2169897X, 2169-897X
• Language: English
• Keywords: south America; orographic effects; storm environments; convection‐permitting model; wind shear; convective storms