Radar Echo Characteristics of Convective and Stratiform Mixed Clouds during Their Formation in a Mountainous Region

The mixture of convective and stratiform clouds is an important precipitation system and also a major object for weather modification studies. To investigate the forming process, we studied 48 such clouds precipitation processes happened in GuiZhou province during 2005 and 2006 using Doppler radar echo images and other data. Convective and stratiform mixed clouds are primarily formed in two ways: 1) merging and expansion of convective clouds and 2) convective cells embedded in stratiform clouds. The merging type mixture was found in 85% of the cases while the embedded convection made up the remaining 15%.