Comparison of radar rainfall estimates and raingage measurements over the Central Apennines

Radar measurement of rainfall over mountainous regions is a difficult task due to the requirements of avoiding beam blockage as well as contamination by the melting layer. In this paper the raingage measurements and radar estimates of rainfall over two distinct locations in the central Apennines are compared to study the effect of beam blocking on radar measurements. A simple procedure is developed to estimate the percentage of beam blockage by the mountain ridges and, correspondingly, to correct the radar estimates of rainfall