Strong Winds & Moderate Snowfall Caused Several Disruptions Across Estonia!!! (Credit: Meteo Europe)4/30/2017 DISCUSSION: While the days are getting longer and the sun angle is becoming higher in the sky, parts of Estonia experienced some unusually late snowfall. Estonia is located in Northern Europe, to the Northwest of Moscow, Russia and to the South of the country Finland. The longest day in the summer approaches 19 hours of sunlight! Meanwhile, the shortest day in winter only experiences just 6 hours of sunlight. Being at such high latitude, snowfall is not uncommon in late April, but it is rather unusual as the Northern Hemisphere continues to warm as we begin to tilt closer and closer to the Sun. Spring in Estonia is typically dry and mild, this year it has been quite chilly and snowy. This most recent storm further confirms that statement, when moderate snowfall and strong damaging winds knocked down trees and powerlines across the Northern city of Tallinn. As of yesterday, Meteo Europe reported that over 7,000 households had no electricity following the storm. Several roads were closed across the region as crews worked as quickly as possible to clear them of debris from fallen trees. Road travel was not the only mode of transportation impacted by this event, air and even marine traffic came to a halt as the winds combined with the heavy wet snow to produce whiteout conditions. Temperatures are expected to slowly warmup, especially as we head into the weekend. In regards to precipitation, it appears the region will remain dry right into the weekend as well. To learn more about other high-impact weather events from across Europe, be sure to click here! ~ Meteorologist Jake Keiser
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 DISCUSSION: Within the last 48 hours, there was a weak pulse of energy moving across parts of northern Europe. As this small piece of energy moved through the region, the conditions gradually became primed for a mid/upper-level setup conducive for the development of what are known as mammatus clouds. Attached below is a neat description (courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) which explains in greater detail what mammatus clouds are and how they form in the atmosphere.
"For a mammatus to form, the sinking air must be cooler than the air around it and have high liquid water or ice content. They derive their name from their appearance, like the bag-like sacs that hang beneath the cloud resemble cow's udders. Mammatus are long-lived if the sinking air contains large drops and snow crystals since larger particles require greater amounts of energy for evaporation to occur. Over time, the cloud droplets do eventually evaporate and the mammatus dissolve. Despite popular misconception, mammatus clouds are not a sign that a tornado is about to form. While associated with thunderstorms, mammatus clouds are not necessarily an indicator of severe weather. Mammatus result from the sinking of moist air into dry air. They are in essence upside-down clouds. The sharp boundary of mammatus is much like the sharp boundary of a rising cumulonimbus cloud before an anvil has formed." To learn more about other interest weather events from across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Heavy Snow and Freezing Fog Impacts Northeast Romania (credit: Meteo NORD-EST via Meteo Europe)4/25/2017 
DISCUSSION: Within the last week, there have been a few brief but potent pieces of mid-level energy which have moved through parts of northern Europe. As these mid-level areas of atmospheric energy moved through the region, there was also colder air in place which provided the more favorable precursory setup for a wintry scene across many areas. As shown in the video footage above, as of 20 April, there was a snowy scene across areas in and around the city of Bârnova, Romania which led to hazardous and even dangerous travel across this region. In addition, there were also widespread observations of fog and freezing fog which is relatively common in association with wintry weather events of varying magnitudes. However, this is most common during more intense winter storms (and often times during all-out blizzard) when heavy snowfall leads to increased amounts of low-level moisture being in place across the region(s) being impacted. Hence, it is always interesting to see how freezing fog can form in wintry weather events of different magnitudes and how such instances of freezing fog can quickly impact the ability of people to travel via different methods (e.g., ground, rail, air, etc.)
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: Over the course of the past 48 hours, a weak pulse of energy moved through parts of far northern Europe. As this energy progressed through areas across far northern Europe, this helped to destabilize the ambient environment for deep convective storms. As shown in the video attached above, there a period of large hail which impacted the city of Vantaa, Finland on the afternoon of 21 April. Of particular interest was the fact that according to some reliable sources, hail diameters were measured at between 2 and 3 cm. It is also worth noting that for hail stones to grow to such diameters, the hail stones much remain suspended in the cloud for a sufficient amount of time. Thus, allowing the hail stones to accumulate ice on the exterior of the growing hail stone. This is the process by which hail stones grow in effectively all cases before they are no longer supported by the given strength of a given updraft which is when they fall out of the cloud and plummet to the ground.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: As a weak low pressure system made its way across portions of western to central Europe, the stage was quickly set for an interesting severe weather setup. More specifically, this incoming low pressure system allowed warmer air to surge northward from the greater region in and around the Mediterranean Sea and up towards many parts of central Europe. In addition to the increased surge of warmer and more buoyant air, there was also a consequential increase in the degree of vertical veering (i.e., winds rotating clockwise with height from the ground) winds with height. Thus, the combination of increasing more buoyant air as well as winds rotating clockwise with height set the stage for a larger-scale severe weather threat. As shown in the image above (courtesy of the Meteo Europe Facebook team), one of the storms which formed across far eastern Austria dropped what appeared to be land-spout and/or possible tornado at some point in its existence. As always, when it comes to observing severe weather phenomena, it is always imperative to report it to your local National Weather Service office or regional weather service office across Europe at all times.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: As a strengthening low pressure system continue to traverse across sections of northwest to north-central Europe, the system moved into a region which was chiefly comprised of increasingly colder air. As a result of this system moving into an increasingly colder ambient environment, this allowed for widespread snowfall to blanket parts of several countries spread across the northern tier of Europe. Although it is most certainly Spring across many of these places, those locations positioned at higher elevations can often have a propensity to see substantial winter storms even into the earlier parts of the Springtime period. Hence, it is not entirely uncommon even at this time of year. However, as with any form of wintry weather, the fact of whether such winter storm impacts are openly welcomed by people living across these parts of northern Europe is another story all-together. Nonetheless, this latest northern European winter blast certainly had substantial travel impacts both on the ground as well as in the skies above these countries.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: Over the past 6 to 12 hours, there has been a fairly impressive mid-Spring snowfall event across portions of northwest Europe. As shown in the video above, the strengthening low pressure system which moved through this part of Europe went on to produce impressively heavy snowfall which greatly impacted travel across many regional highways and airports due to reduced visibility. Hence, many across this region aimed to stay off the roads during the height of this latest northwestern European winter blast aside from emergency managers and regional sanitation workers. Thus, this was without a doubt a fairly high-impact winter weather event which impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. You can also note how the snowflakes falling across the region were relatively large which indicated the increased presence of mid-level moisture in place across the region which allowed for the generation of larger snowflakes during this event.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: Within the last 24 hours, there has been several rounds of impressively deep convection flaring up across parts of central and southern Greece. As shown in the images above, several of these storms generated decent amounts of lightning which made for an impressive display in the skies above Greece earlier today. You can also note on the visible satellite image how many of these storms seem to flare up over the more interior sections of Greece. As discussed in the actual media post (courtesy of the Meteo Europe), many of these thunderstorms which developed were best characterized by pulse thunderstorms which still managed to generate substantial amounts of hail and heavy rainfall which led to localized flooding. Based on the position of Greece relative to the Mediterranean Sea, this allows thunderstorm complexes to ingest larger amounts of warm/moist unstable air which facilitates a greater potential for deeper and more intense convection. Therefore, the stage was primed for strong to severe thunderstorm activity just as it unfolded.
Attached below is an excerpt from the post created by the Meteo Europe Facebook team: "Some local thunderstorms initiated across Greece and Balkans mainly caused by surface- / thermal heating. These pulse thunderstorms are able to produce hail and local flooding since they are almost stationary. The current convention is being visible on satellite. More convection is present across E Europe in Poland and Belarus. Also a local sound of thunder isn't excluded across Baltic States as a trough pushes through. Simultaneously a cold front currently pushes through on German Bight and Denmark, a local sound of thunder is not excluded across shore." To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz A Neat Perspective on Strong Storms Across Germany (credit: kachelmannwetter.de via Meteo Europe)4/13/2017  DISCUSSION: Within the last couple of a days, a fairly potent and localized area of low pressure moved across parts of west-central Europe. As this more confined "piece of energy" propagated across this region, there were impressive convective results which unfolded. As shown in the image above, there were a few areas of particularly intense convection which developed during the day on Monday as a result of the increasingly unstable atmosphere which came about with the approach of the aforementioned low pressure system. This instability was chiefly a result of increased instability in this region due to strengthened southerly to southwesterly flow which brought a surge of warmer and moistened air parcels into this region. As you can see in the image above, there were hourly precipitation rates up to and over 100 mm/hour which led to localized flooding in parts of southern Germany.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Cumulonimbus capillatus near sunset in Viladellops, Olèrdola, Cataluña (credit: Meteo Europe)4/10/2017  DISCUSSION: As of earlier today, there were strong thunderstorms which fired up across portions of northern Spain and southern France. As these thunderstorms continued to intensity and spread out in coverage, there was quite an impressive show on display for everyone in the vicinity. This neat convective display was defined by these storms' anvils spreading out in a classic circular radius as shown in the image above. This spreading out of the cloud debris associated with the primary convective updraft is due to the mid/upper-level winds blowing the anvil-based clouds away from the center of the storm. You can also see what are referred to as mammatus clouds under the developing anvil (i.e., towards the center of the aforementioned image which is attached above). Mammatus clouds form via the following process described by atmospheric scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"For a mammatus to form, the sinking air must be cooler than the air around it and have high liquid water or ice content. They derive their name from their appearance, like the bag-like sacs that hang beneath the cloud resemble cow's udders. Mammatus are long-lived if the sinking air contains large drops and snow crystals since larger particles require greater amounts of energy for evaporation to occur. Over time, the cloud droplets do eventually evaporate and the mammatus dissolve." To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: In light of the onset of Spring-time across many parts of Europe, much of the snowfall has either begun to or completely melted across many places at lower elevations. As this occurs, many plant species which remained dormant during the course of the Winter season begun to spring back to life and start the process of budding and then blooming. As shown in the scenic image above (courtesy of @aerialdronehorizon), there are many fields spread across parts of Bollenstreek in the Netherlands which are now in full bloom (e.g., these fields filled with tulips and hyacinths in the city of Lisse earlier today). As time moves along, Spring-time will allow more and more areas to see more flowers come into bloom as temperatures and moisture presence increases.
To learn more about other interesting weather and weather-related events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Strong Thunderstorm Activity Occurs Throughout Italy! (credit: blitzortung.org via Meteo Europe)4/7/2017  DISCUSSION: Much earlier in the day on Thursday, there was fairly impressive thunderstorm activity ongoing across many parts of the Italian Peninsula. This widespread convection was the result of a strengthening low pressure system which was gradually moving across central-to-eastern portions of the Mediterranean Sea. The bulk of this thunderstorm activity across this region occurred across the countries of Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Greece. It is also worth noting that the majority of this thunderstorm activity consisted of mostly pulse-type thunderstorms and many of them remained nearly stationary after being driven by thermal heating earlier on in the day on Thursday. There is no question that these were dangerous storms due to the prevalence of the cloud-to-ground lightning strikes across the aforementioned region. For more specific details on your area visit lightning map with variable size; blitzortung.org.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz A Close Call With a Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Strike in Kraków, Poland! (credit: Meteo Europe)4/5/2017 
DISCUSSION: As strong thunderstorm erupted over portions of northwest Europe much earlier today, there was a fairly impressive lightning display on tap with many of the aforementioned storms that fired during the early to mid-afternoon hours. As shown in the video above, sometimes people have too close of a call when it comes to being in close proximity to strong/severe thunderstorms. In the case of the footage above (captured over in Kraków, Poland), the person who captured this footage was incredibly close to this cloud-to-ground lightning strike as shown via the shaking of the camera. It is worth noting that when it comes to lightning, it will often also heat the ambient air up to near 50,000° F which makes for an increasingly more dangerous situation when it comes to a cloud-to-ground lightning strikes! As always, if presented in the vicinity of a strong-to-severe thunderstorm generating a plethora of lightning, remember the catch-phrase "When thunder roars, go indoors!"
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Strong to Severe Storms Fire over Parts of France and Spain! (credit: Sat24 via Meteo Europe)4/1/2017  DISCUSSION: Between the late morning and late afternoon hours on Friday across many parts of northern Spain and southern France, there was a relatively large area of strong to severe thunderstorms. Many of these thunderstorms were quite intense at their peak and generated a plethora of dangerous lightning, heavy rainfall, and large hail. As is clearly seen in the image attached above (courtesy of Sat24), there was substantial reported in association with the aforementioned thunderstorms based on the numerous orange-colored squares spread across the region. Note how across the region in which the most lightning strikes were reported, there was also very dense and deep cloud cover. This indicated the presence of very intense thunderstorms based on the greater brightness of the associated cloud cover. This type of convection is not uncommon in early Spring across Europe since (similar to the United States) this is the approximate beginning of their primary severe weather season!
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Large Hail Impacts Mourenx, France Earlier in the Afternoon on Friday! (credit: Meteo Europe)4/1/2017  DISCUSSION: As of much earlier in the day on Friday, there were several areas of strong to severe thunderstorms moving across many parts of northern Spain and southern France. As these storms continued to broaden in coverage in concert with increasing daytime heating, the core updrafts of many of these thunderstorms became quite strong. As the updraft strength within some of these thunderstorm continued to increase more significantly, there proportional ability to suspend increasingly heavier ice particles within the updraft increased as well. Thus, as ice particles continued to be repeatedly thrown back up into the heart of these updrafts, the associated ice particles grew into larger hailstones. Often times, these updrafts which are able to support such large hailstones can be as strong as 150 to 200 mph in order to suspend such large hailstones. As shown above, some of these hailstones grew to 2.00 inches or larger which produced substantial damage across many areas.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz |
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