I saw a mention here of an event where 45mm fell in ten minutes. This
got me curious; I've been in a similar downpour here in 2000, but had
no gauge to document it. (The one measuring device I had was one of
my cats, who started sprinting the 20 yards from the back gate to the
catflap when it started, and was as wet as a fluffy cat can possibly
get by the time he made it). It was probably the most violent downpour
I've ever seen, and I've been in flash storms in places prone to far
heavier ones than the UK (New Zealand, the eastern US, Turkey).

Is it possible to detect such events by radar, or do we just have to
hope that one happens over a gauge? - given how localized these things
are, the latter would be like adding an asteroid impact counter to your
weather station.

Do we know anything about the processes that produce them?

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