On July 27th, a radar indicated supercell hit Istanbul, Turkey, accompanied by large hail and straight line winds produced from a severe downburst. Hail was recorded to be up to 8 – 9 cm in diameter. Widespread damage was reported to be associated with this storm system, including damage to buildings, cars and airliners.
A downburst is a phenomena where a localized area of strong wind flows rapidly downward, typically from a severe storm system such as a supercell. For the conditions to be correct to produce a downburst, the downward flow (downdraft) out of a supercell needs to be unusually high. To create the downburst effect, the system needs to be close to the ground. In combination, this creates strong winds, that when pushed out, have no where to go, and often spreads out in all directions from the point of contact on the ground. Downbursts typically only last a couple of minutes. This can sometimes lead to straightline winds, which can often cause damage similar to that of tornadoes. The difference being, tornadoes have high winds that move inward and upward. Where as a downburst winds move downward and outward. A microburst or macroburst refer to a small or large scale downburst respectively. In the video, courtesy of Meteo Europe, you can see the strong wind effects of an active downburst hitting Istanbul this past Thursday. To learn more about other severe weather events in Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Claudia Pukropski
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DISCUSSION: Over the past couple of days, there has been yet another burst of severe weather across portions of western and central Europe. During the course of this most recent severe weather event, there were increasingly more favorable conditions for a heightened potential for tornadoes. This was chiefly due to both substantially increased convective instability in the region as well as robust vertical wind shear which helped to promote rotation within the lower to middle parts of the atmosphere. Hence, there was a very conducive environment across parts of central Europe for severe thunderstorms capable of generating tornadoes (and some particularly damaging tornadoes for that matter). As it turned out, some tornadoes did occur during the course of this latest European severe weather event. As it shown in the footage attached above, there was a classic tornadic progression to this particular severe thunderstorm which was reflected by the tornado swiftly descending from the base of the wall cloud at the bottom of the severe thunderstorm. This is a relatively common characteristic among many different tornadic thunderstorm; though most cases do not evolve as quickly.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: As strong storms impacted many parts of western and northwestern Europe over the past couple of days, some areas saw especially impressive deep convective storms. However, some areas within countries such as France and across parts of southern Germany were impacted quite dramatically with deep convective storms. Moreover, a few of these storms encountered substantial amounts of deep layer vertical wind shear which facilitated deep layer rotation with some of these severe thunderstorms which erupted. As you can see in the raw footage attached above, one particular thunderstorm which erupted over parts of far northern France!
In addition, as you watch the aforementioned footage of this impressive supercell thunderstorm (i.e., a severe thunderstorm which has a rotating updraft that is sometimes capable of producing a tornado), you can even see the primary inflow sector of the supercell thunderstorm. This inflow sector is defined by what appeared to be "rising clouds" on the bottom right-hand portion of the cloud base which was the wall cloud associated with this supercell thunderstorm. A wall cloud is defined as the lowering of the cloud base within the supercell thunderstorm and is most often the location within a supercell thunderstorm where a tornado typically forms. To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: Over the last 24 to 48 hours, there have been a series of solid convective outbreaks across portions of Northwest Europe. This has been a direct result of strengthened warm air advection out ahead of a deepening long-wave trough (i.e., a southerly dip in the track of the predominant regional jet stream) which has created an increasingly more favorable convective environment across several parts of Northwest Europe. The combination of stronger warm air advection and an overall larger degree of buoyancy in the region allowed strong-to-severe thunderstorms to fire across this region. As shown in the animated satellite imagery above, you can see the variation in cloud-top brightness which also reflects the maximum height of the cloud. The differential in the maximum cloud-top heights among the respective thunderstorm clusters is often effectively differentiated based on the cloud-top brightness temperature (i.e., in infrared satellite imagery) which illustrates the coldest (and therefore the highest) cloud-tops. Although the imagery presented above is strictly visible satellite imagery, these were still fairly impressive deep convective storms which fired across parts of western/central Germany.
To learn more about this particular event from a photograph and imagery-based standpoint, click on the following link. 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 few days, a series of strong-to-severe thunderstorms rolled through several parts of central-to-northern Romania. As these storms impacted certain parts of Romania, the primary updrafts of these thunderstorms passed directly over several populated towns and cities which led to fairly violent consequences at the ground. As illustrated in the footage above, these strong winds led to damage via downed trees knocking out critical power lines and/or those trees knocking out various regional residential and private infrastructure. Thus, these storms hit with incredibly dangerous consequences as the strong winds led to major regional impacts to people and society in general as they passed through the region. You can also see how there were several noticeably individual periods of stronger winds for brief periods of time which led to substantial wind damage.
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 couple of days, there was some impressive atmospheric phenomena observed over the grounds of Munch, Germany International Airport. As some strong storms passed near Munich International Airport, there was quite an impressive cloud display on-hand. More specifically, as strong storms passed in the vicinity of Munich International Airport, there was strong outflow which concentrated lift just away from one of the stronger thunderstorms which passed near the airport. As warmer low-level inflow converged with the colder storm-relative outflow this helped to form a classic roll cloud over the airport which made for quite a scenic background for both taxiing and departing/arriving flights. It just goes to show that not all facets of severe weather events are immediately hazardous; though everyone should always respect the natural power of nature at every turn.
To learn more about other neat weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz 
DISCUSSION: Over the past 24 hours, there have been increasingly drier conditions in place across many parts of south-central Europe have been experiencing increasingly drier conditions across the region due to stronger northerly flow bringing in warmer and drier air from portions of east-central Europe. As a direct consequence of this warm/dry air advection, there was an increased threat for wildfires due to the combination of increased dry air advection into the region as well as strong northerly/northeasterly winds. As shown in the image above, one such wildfire erupted across parts of far southern Turkey. There is no question that this wildfire impacted the immediate area prior to having the smoke plume travel southeast by going out and over the far eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is also worth noting that such smoke plumes can also create natural hazards for both private and commercial aircraft since too much smoke can act to affect the efficiency of jet turbine functionality.
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 gradually made its way across parts of the Alps across northern Italy, there was an increase in southerly flow making its way from both the Adriatic Sea as well as the Mediterranean Sea. As this warmer and moistened air made its way northward towards central and northern Italy, it ran into colder air encapsulated within the confines of valleys embedded within the western/central sections of the Alps mountains. Hence, this scenario set the stage for a classic snowfall event to envelop the more elevated parts of northern Italy. As shown in the images above, this set-up was picture perfect as far as the result was concerned. As capture in the images above, there was indeed substantial snowfall accumulated across parts of northern Italy (including areas such as but not limited to Stelvio Pass). Having a winter weather event such as this this far into the Summer-time months certainly caught many people by surprise. Therefore, it is always important to be weather-ready and stay ahead of any type of inclement weather event well ahead of it's arrival.
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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