Atmosphere 2012, 3, 33-58; doi:10.3390/atmos3010033 OPEN ACCESS atmosphere ISSN 2073-4433 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere Article Radar-Based Analysis of Convective Storms over Northwestern Italy Paolo Davini 1,*, Renzo Bechini 2, Roberto Cremonini 2 and Claudio Cassardo 1 1 Department of General Physics “A. Avogadro”, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Environmental Protection Agency of Piemonte (Arpa Piemonte), Department of Forecasting Systems, Via Pio VII 9, 10135 Torino, Italy; E-Mails:
[email protected] (R.B.);
[email protected] (R.C.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-051-3782691; Fax:+39-051-3782655. Received: 22 September 2011; in revised form: 19 November 2011 / Accepted: 14 December 2011 / Published: 27 December 2011 Abstract: Thunderstorms may cause large damages to infrastructures and population, therefore the possible identification of the areas with the highest occurrence of these events is especially relevant. Nevertheless, few extensive studies of these phenomena with high spatial and temporal resolution have been carried out in the Alps and none of them includes North-western Italy. To analyze thunderstorm events, the data of the meteorological radar network of the regional meteorological service of Piedmont region (ARPA Piemonte) have been used in this work. The database analyzed includes all thunderstorms occurred during the warm months (April to September) of a 6-year period (2005–2010). The tracks of each storm have been evaluated using a storm tracking algorithm. Several characteristics of the storms have been analyzed, such as the duration, the spatial and the temporal distribution, the direction and the distance travelled.