A high-resolution climate model has produced the most accurate representation yet of rainfall in the southern United Kingdom, bolstering confidence in the potential of detailed regional modelling.

A team led by Elizabeth Kendon at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, UK, used a regional model with a 1.5-kilometre grid to conduct detailed simulations from 1989 to 2008. The authors analysed the duration, extent and intensity of rainfall and compared the results of their model with those produced by a less-detailed 12-kilometre regional climate model.

The results suggest that the 1.5-kilometre model significantly improves the representation of heavy rains and reduces long-standing inaccuracies that produced too much light rain.

J. Clim. 10.1175/JCLI-d-11-00562.1 (2012)