Estimation of the maximum velocity of convective wind gusts

In this report, an investigation into the possibilities for the prediction and detection of convective wind gusts using upper-air sounding data, numerical weather prediction models, and data from weather radars is presented. In the project ``Development of a product for detection of severe weather phenomena using non-Doppler radar data'' (KNMI project 2301), a tool for the detection and display of severe weather phenomena related to convective systems, like wind gusts and summer hail, is being developed. On the radar-based hail detection product has been reported in detail elsewhere. This study on wind gusts has been limited to algorithms that attempt to estimate the maximum velocity of a convective wind gust. As a result, methods which can only indicate the possibility of a (strong) wind gust based on signatures of the possibility or presence of strong updrafts in upper-air sounding data or weather radar data, respectively, have not been considered.