Analysis of possible physical factors that accelerate downdrafts in storm clouds over Cuba

Severe Local Storms (TLS) are considered one of the most dangerous phenomena within the mesoscale. One of its manifestations is strong linear winds, which are known as downbursts, capable of causing great losses to the country's economy and society in general. Knowing which factors in the atmosphere are necessary for the occurrence of this phenomenon is essential for its better understanding and future prediction, which is very complex given the short time of their emergence, development, and dissipation. The objective of the research was to analyze the possible physical factors that accelerate the downdrafts in the storm clouds in Cuba. For this, 10 simulated study cases simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model at 3 km of the spatial resolution were used. Of these, there were 5 days with reports of downburst and 5 days close to these, both in position and time, in which there was an electrical storm without severity. The factors capable of discriminating between downburst and electrical storms without severity were obtained as the absorption of latent heat by evaporation and fusion, the equivalent potential temperature difference between the level of maximum relative humidity in the low levels and of minimum relative humidity in the middle levels, the speed of the downdraft, and Downstream Available Convective Potential Energy (DCAPE). Unlike previous research, they discriminated against updraft buoyancy and energy advection, both at the middle levels of the troposphere.