Tornadoes and waterspouts in the Balearic Islands: phenomena and environment characterization

Tornadoes and waterspouts in Catalonia (1950–2009)

“…This result matches that obtained for the time distribution of hail events in Catalonia (Ceperuelo et al, 2009) and Mesoscale Convective Systems (Rigo and Llasat, 2007). However, it is somewhat anomalous when compared with other countries as Germany (Dotzek, 2001) and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (Gayà et al, 2001), where the maximum tends to occur later in the afternoon. Waterspout records (Fig.…”

“…The zones with high vortex frequency are determined by dynamically favorable meteorological conditions in conjunction with low-level air having a long trajectory over the warm western Mediterranean (Doswell and Bosart, 2001), especially in autumn. Gayà et al (1997) identified four relevant configurations at 500 hPa, when Balearic events were considered. In all cases, a cut-off-low or a deep trough was present.…”

“…Most of the papers on the phenomenon center on the meteorological factors that produced the tornadoes (see among others, Gayà and Redaño, 1996;Ramis et al, 1997;Homar et al, 2003;Aran et al, 2006;Bech et al, 2007). The oldest and most complete systematic work bringing together data about tornadoes in Spain refers to the Balearic Islands (Gayà et al, 2001), although data about tornadoes in Spain have also been collected and analysed (Gayà, 2005). All the databases show a positive increase in tornado frequency that is most likely more related to a change in the perception level of the population, rather than to actual climatic change.…”

Analysis of synoptic conditions for tornadic days over western Greece

“…Similar, Matsangouras et al (2014) presented a tornado climatology based on historical data sets and recent data sets (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), thus more than 612 Greek tornadic events were recorded: 171 tornadoes, 374 waterspouts and 67 funnel clouds, within the period 1709-2012. In spite of these historical publications, several researchers have presented/analyzed tornado occurrences and climatology for many European countries describing the spatiotemporal distribution of these tornadic phenomena (e.g. Dessens, 1984;Dessens and Snow, 1987;Paul, 1999;Gayà et al, 2000). Dotzek (2001) suggested a conservative estimate of tornadic activity in Germany, a number of four to seven tornadoes per year and a recurrence density of about 0.1 to 0.2 × 10 −4 events year −1 km −2 .…”

Preface: Advances in meteorological hazards and extreme events

“…Several publications during the last several decades have presented historical records concerning tornadic activity (e.g. Meaden, 1976;Tooming et al (1995); Peterson, 1998;Reynolds, 1999;Gayà et al, 2000;Tyrrel, 2003;Macrinoniene, 2003;Dotzek, 2003;Nastos and Matsangouras, 2010;Brázdil et al, 2012;Rahuala et al, 2012;Matsangouras et al, 2014a). Two papers in the Special Issue present synoptical analysis and modeling simulations of tornadoes over Greece.…”