Toward a Global Climatology of Severe Hailstorms as Estimated by Satellite Passive Microwave Imagers

Abstract An 8-yr climatology of storms producing large hail is estimated from satellite measurements using Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). This allows a unique, consistent comparison between regions that cannot be consistently compared using ground-based records because of varying data collection standards. Severe hailstorms are indicated most often in a broad region of northern Argentina and southern Paraguay and a smaller region in Bangladesh and eastern India. Numerous hailstorms are also estimated in the central and southeastern United States, northern Pakistan and northwestern India, central and western Africa, and southeastern Africa (and adjacent waters). Fewer hailstorms are estimated for other regions over land and scattered across subtropical oceans. Very few are estimated in the deep tropics…