Abstract
Characteristics of localized heavy rainfall in the Fukuoka metropolitan area are investigated on the basis of field observation data taken with 14 rain gauges and 76 thermometers. The surface temperature in the case of localized rainfall shows an increase of about 2°C compared to that in the absence of rainfall. The vertical distributions of the humidity in localized rainfall and no rainfall cases differ obviously at elevations higher than 900hPa, whereas there is no difference between both near the ground. The present study shows that the indexes of the air stability, i.e., SSI, LI, KI and CAPE may be useful for detecting the occurrence of localized raifall in this urban area.
