A seamless weather-climate multi-model intercomparison on the representation of a high impact weather event in the western Mediterranean: HyMeX IOP12

Abstract. Heavy rain is one of the most important high-impact weather phenomena that occasionally affect Mediterranean areas. The aim of this study is to achieve a classification of atmospheric patterns related to heavy rain events in both French and Spanish Mediterranean regions. The classification is made on some atmospheric fields (geopotential at 1000 hPa and at 500 hPa and temperature at 850 hPa) of HIRLAM-INM-0.5° operational analysis, for heavy rain events included in the High Impact Weather MEDEX database. It covers a period of roughly 7 and a half years, from January 1997 to May 2004. A Principal Components Analysis was conducted to reduce the number of variables. After that, by means of a Cluster Analysis, the heavy rain events are classified into 8 atmospheric patterns. The results show a good relationship between regions affected by heavy rain and atmospheric patterns, in the sense that the same atmospheric patterns usually produce heavy rain in different regions, and heavy rain in different regions is usually due to specific atmospheric patterns.

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Dynamics of forecast error growth along cut‐off Sanchez and its consequence for the prediction of a high‐impact weather event over southern France

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society ◽

10.1002/qj.4127 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hanin Binder ◽

Gwendal Rivière ◽

Philippe Arbogast ◽

Karine Maynard ◽

Pierre Bosser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forecast Error ◽

High Impact ◽

Error Growth ◽

Weather Event ◽

Southern France ◽

High Impact Weather

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Assimilation of water vapor sensitive infrared brightness temperature observations during a high impact weather event

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ◽

10.1029/2012jd017568 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 117 (D19) ◽

pp. n/a-n/a ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Jason A. Otkin

Keyword(s):

Water Vapor ◽

Brightness Temperature ◽

High Impact ◽

Weather Event ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

Temperature Observations ◽

Infrared Brightness

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High impact weather and cyclones simultaneity in Catalonia

Advances in Geosciences ◽

10.5194/adgeo-12-115-2007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 115-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

J. Campins ◽

M. Aran ◽

A. Genovés ◽

A. Jansà

Keyword(s):

Heavy Rain ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

High Impact ◽

Strong Wind ◽

Accurate Forecast ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

Deep Cyclone ◽

Almost All ◽

Meso Scale

Abstract. The Western Mediterranean in general and Catalonia in particular are usually affected by high impact weather (HIW) events, mainly heavy rain (HR) and strong wind (SW). The improvement in the understanding and the accurate forecast of such events are major concerns for the meteorologists of the region. In the present study, HR and SW events in Catalonia are cross-referenced with an objective cyclone database for a 9-year period (from June 1995 to May 2004). Results show that in most of the HR events a cyclone is located close to Catalonia, in such a way that the feeding of a moist flow to the affected region was favoured. These cyclones can be either shallow and weak or deep and intense. A simultaneous cyclone also appears to be connected with many SW events. However, other SW events seem to be related to meso-scale circulations and, as a result, not always well captured in the cyclone database. Finally, coincident HR and SW events are analysed. In almost all of such events a deep cyclone is located in the vicinity of Catalonia.

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A methodology to conduct wind damage field surveys for high-impact weather events of convective origin

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-20-1513-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 1513-1531 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Oriol Rodríguez ◽

Joan Bech ◽

Juan de Dios Soriano ◽

Delia Gutiérrez ◽

Salvador Castán

Keyword(s):

Field Studies ◽

High Impact ◽

Strong Wind ◽

Field Surveys ◽

Weather Events ◽

Straight Line ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

Strong Winds ◽

Wind Events ◽

The One

Abstract. Post-event damage assessments are of paramount importance to document the effects of high-impact weather-related events such as floods or strong wind events. Moreover, evaluating the damage and characterizing its extent and intensity can be essential for further analysis such as completing a diagnostic meteorological case study. This paper presents a methodology to perform field surveys of damage caused by strong winds of convective origin (i.e. tornado, downburst and straight-line winds). It is based on previous studies and also on 136 field studies performed by the authors in Spain between 2004 and 2018. The methodology includes the collection of pictures and records of damage to human-made structures and on vegetation during the in situ visit to the affected area, as well as of available automatic weather station data, witness reports and images of the phenomenon, such as funnel cloud pictures, taken by casual observers. To synthesize the gathered data, three final deliverables are proposed: (i) a standardized text report of the analysed event, (ii) a table consisting of detailed geolocated information about each damage point and other relevant data and (iii) a map or a KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file containing the previous information ready for graphical display and further analysis. This methodology has been applied by the authors in the past, sometimes only a few hours after the event occurrence and, on many occasions, when the type of convective phenomenon was uncertain. In those uncertain cases, the information resulting from this methodology contributed effectively to discern the phenomenon type thanks to the damage pattern analysis, particularly if no witness reports were available. The application of methodologies such as the one presented here is necessary in order to build homogeneous and robust databases of severe weather cases and high-impact weather events.

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