High impact weather and cyclones simultaneity in Catalonia

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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Heavy rain events in the Western Mediterranean: an atmospheric pattern classification

Advances in Science and Research ◽

10.5194/asr-2-61-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 61-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

C. Martínez ◽

J. Campins ◽

A. Jansà ◽

A. Genovés

Keyword(s):

Heavy Rain ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

High Impact ◽

Good Relationship ◽

Operational Analysis ◽

Mediterranean Regions ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

Components Analysis ◽

Rain Events

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

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society ◽

10.1002/qj.2700 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 142 ◽

pp. 433-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

S. Khodayar ◽

G. Fosser ◽

S. Berthou ◽

S. Davolio ◽

P. Drobinski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Western Mediterranean ◽

High Impact ◽

Model Intercomparison ◽

Weather Event ◽

High Impact Weather

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Towards a climatology of sensitivities of Mediterranean high impact weather − first approach

Advances in Geosciences ◽

10.5194/adgeo-7-259-2006 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 259-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

V. Homar ◽

A. Jansà ◽

J. Campins ◽

C. Ramis

Keyword(s):

Heavy Rain ◽

High Impact ◽

Numerical Predictions ◽

Special Value ◽

Sensitivity Studies ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Strong Winds ◽

Eastern North Atlantic

Abstract. During recent years, great interest has grown within the operational weather community on the adaptable component of observational networks. Decisions regarding where to deploy new observations of special value under threatening weather, or regarding permanent changes in observational strategies need support from sensitivity studies that determine areas where the addition of observations would optimally improve the skill of numerical predictions. Within the context of the MEDEX project (http://medex.inm.uib.es), the sensitivities of a collection of severe weather episodes in the Mediterranean have been computed using the MM5 Adjoint Modeling system. Various approaches are explored trying to summarize the results for the diversity of cases that produce high impact weather (HIW; mainly heavy rain and strong winds) in the Mediterranean region. A first attempt uses an objective classification of the trajectories of the most intense cyclone types from the ERA-40 reanalyses. Sensitivities are then computed for each group of frequent trajectories, providing a prototype sensitivity field for each of the most frequent intense cyclones in the Mediterranean. However, a large portion of HIW episodes in the Mediterranean are not linked to significantly intense cyclones within the climatology. Consequently, a subjective classification of HIW events is also performed and the sensitivity fields for an example case is shown to complete the study. Although the sensitive areas for Mediterranean HIW are not particularly confined, it is remarkable how poorly sampled areas by the regular observing networks such as North Africa and the eastern North-Atlantic are highlighted in the results.

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

10.5194/nhess-2019-294 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Oriol Rodríguez ◽

Joan Bech ◽

Juan de Dios Soriano ◽

Delia Gutiérrez ◽

Salvador Castán

Keyword(s):

High Impact ◽

Strong Wind ◽

Field Surveys ◽

Weather Events ◽

Damage Field ◽

High Impact Weather ◽

Strong Winds ◽

Wind Events ◽

The One

Abstract. Post-event damage assessments are essential to document the effects of high-impact weather events such as floods or strong wind events. Moreover, evaluating the damage and characterizing its extension and intensity can be helpful 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 other types of convective winds. It is based on previous studies and also on 136 fieldworks performed by the authors in Spain from 2004 to 2018. The methodology includes the systematic collection of pictures and records of damages on man-made structures and on vegetation, as well as collection of any available Automatic Weather Station data, witness reports and images of the phenomenon and their location and orientation. Three final deliverables are proposed to synthesize the data recorded: (i) A summary of the fieldwork; (ii) A table consisting of detailed geolocated information about each damage, and (iii) A map or a .kml 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, in many occasions, when the type of convective phenomenon (e.g. tornado, downburst) was uncertain. In the latter case the information resulting from this methodology has proofed very useful to discern the phenomenon type, based on the damage patterns particularly if no witness reports were available. The application of systematic methodologies as the one presented here is necessary in order to build homogeneous databases of severe weather cases and high impact weather events.

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Phantom Brake Phenomenon in Survivors of Car Accidents

European Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.24018/clinicmed.2021.2.3.68 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 9-13

Author(s):

Zack Z. Cernovsky ◽

Milad Fattahi

Keyword(s):

Motor Vehicle ◽

Brief Pain Inventory ◽

Severity Index ◽

High Impact ◽

Generalized Anxiety ◽

Vehicle Accidents ◽

Symptom Pattern ◽

Car Accidents ◽

And Gender ◽

Almost All

Background: Survivors of high impact car accidents, when traveling in cars as passengers, may exhibit the phantom brake reaction. The reaction consists of involuntarily pressing the foot on the floor of the car in a reflexive attempt "to brake", even though there is no brake pedal in front of the passenger seat. This study examines the incidence and correlates of this special phenomenon. Method: De-identified data of 114 survivors (37 men, 77 women; mean age 38.6, SD=12.4) of high impact motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) were available, with their responses to the Brief Pain Inventory, Insomnia Severity Index, Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire, Subjective Neuropsychological Symptoms Scale (SNPSS), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), ratings of depression and of generalized anxiety, and 3 questionnaire measures of driving anxiety, i.e., Whetstone’s, Steiner’s, and the Driving Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ). One item of the DAQ assesses the phantom brake phenomenon on a 4-point scale (0=No, 1=Mild, 2=Moderate, 3=Severe): this is the key variable in the present study. Results: Mild to severe forms of the phantom brake reaction were reported by 92.1% of the post-MVA patients. Significant correlations (p<0.05, 2-tailed) were found of the intensity of phantom brake reaction to the intensity of post-MVA pain (rs from 0.20 to 0.33), insomnia (r=0.40), the Rivermead post-concussion scale (r=.29), other post-concussive and whiplash symptoms as measured by the SNPSS (r=0.19), depression (r=0.30), generalized anxiety (r=0.32), and to DAQ (r=0.47) and Whetstone’s (r=0.50) measures of driving anxiety. No significant relationships were found of the phantom brake reaction to age and gender. Discussion and Conclusion: The phantom brake reaction was reported by almost all post-MVA patients and can be considered as a part of their post-MVA polytraumatic symptom pattern.

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