Rapid and sudden advection of warm and dry air in the Mediterranean basin
Abstract. Rapid advection of extremely warm and dry air is studied during two events in the Mediterranean basin. On 27 August 2010 a rapid advection of extremely warm and dry air affected the northeast Iberian Peninsula during few hours. At the Barcelona city center, the temperature reached 39.3 °C, which is the maximum temperature value recorded during 230 yr of daily data series. On 23 March 2008 a similar synoptic situation was the cause of a rapid increase of temperature and drop of relative humidity recorded for few hours in Heraklion (Crete). During the morning on that day the recorded temperature reaches 34 °C for several hours in the north coastline of this island. According to the World Meteorological Organization none of these events can be classified as a heat wave, which requires at least two days of abnormally high temperatures; or as a heat burst as defined by the American Meteorological Society, where abnormal temperatures take place over a few minutes. For this reason, we suggest naming this type of event flash heat. By using data from automatic weather stations in the Barcelona and Heraklion area and WRF mesoscale numerical simulations, these events are analyzed. Additionally, the primary risks and possible impacts on several fields are presented.