• Diurnal precipitation characteristics of the Indian summer monsoon were simulated realistically without convective parameterization
• Precipitation characteristics were more dependent on convection representation than model horizontal grid resolution
• Explicit (parameterized) convection experiments simulate high-intensity localized (high-frequency widespread) precipitation events

A precipitation system from early morning to noon that travels southeastward from the western coast of the Bay of Bengal to the central Bay of Bengal, which can be associated with the low-level southeastward winds, was simulated in COFF (a snapshot that shows offshore-propagating precipitation systems). The precipitation system simulated in CON over the Bay of Bengal during the midnight or early morning was not likely to travel southeastward, but a stronger precipitation system developed within a shorter number of hours. This type of difference in diurnally propagating precipitation systems and characteristics is an important aspect differentiating COFF and CON.