A rainband is an area of rainfall where all the clouds and precipitation are stretched out in a long line or band.[1] Rainbands can be stratiform or convective. They are caused by differences in temperature. When seen on a weather radar, the long narrow shape is called a banded structure.[2] Rainbands in a tropical cyclone are curved and may even spiral around the center of the cyclone.[3] Tropical cyclone rainbands include rain showers and thunderstorms. When this includes an eyewall and the eye, they make a hurricane or tropical storm. The size of rainbands around a tropical cyclone helps to measure the cyclone's intensity.
Rainbands that form near and ahead of cold fronts can be squall lines which can produce tornadoes. The shape of rainbands linked with cold fronts can be changed by mountains. The mountains block the winds which can then form a low-level barrier jet. Bands of thunderstorms can form when sea breeze and land breezes meet, if enough moisture is present. Sometimes sea breeze rainbands which are ahead of a cold front, can hide the location of the cold front itself. Rainbands in an extratropical cyclone can cause large amounts of rain or snow. Behind extratropical cyclones, rainbands can form downwind of large, warmer bodies of water such as the Great Lakes. If the air is cold enough, these rainbands can cause heavy snowfalls.
- ↑ Glossary of Meteorology (2009). Rainband. Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008-12-24.
- ↑ Glossary of Meteorology (2009). Banded structure. Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008-12-24.
- ↑ Tropical cyclone. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. [1] Retrieved on 2011-05-15.