A radar rainfall forecasting method designed for hydrological purposes

Abstract : Advanced techniques in sewer management need a reliable rainfall forecasting methodology to satisfy the urban hydrologist. In close cooperation with the users, a community remotely controlling a suburban county of Paris, specific requirements were precisely defined. The proposed forecasting method is based on recent advances of pattern recognition and image processing. Its user-defined hydrological features focus on heavy rainfall and on accuracy at a small time-area scale. The reliability of the actual forecast is calculated and issued in real-time. By comparison with earlier forecasting methods, the proposed method proved to be slightly superior in hydrological terms. However, the appropriate quality criteria always depend on the application. Further research is being undertaken in this direction. The method has been in operational use since May 1988. © 1990.