DISCUSSION: Over the course of the past 24 hours, parts of south-central Europe were slammed by a classic winter storm. In particular, some parts of northern Italy received well over 1.5 feet of fresh snowfall which put many people's lives at a complete standstill. These types of winter weather events are more common in this part of Italy based on the fact that such elevated parts of Italy and other surrounding nations are prone to heavier snowfall events at higher elevations. This is chiefly due to the fact that at higher elevations, air parcels are essentially "squeezed" even more and this allows for more moisture to be extracted from a given column of air. Therefore, at higher elevations, this facilitates a greater potential for heavier localized snowfall totals during any given event in a particular winter season. Thus, the stage was perfectly set for a heavier snowfall event with the increased moisture, colder air in place, and the region being positioned at a higher elevation.
To learn more about other high-impact weather events across Europe, be sure to click here! ©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz
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DISCUSSION: Over the course of the past few days, a weak area of low-pressure organized across a large portion of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. As this occurred, there was consequently a notable increase in the magnitude of the larger-scale southerly flow. As a result of this stronger southerly flow increasing on the eastern flank of this strengthening low-pressure system, this allowed for a more efficient transport of warm, moist air northward. As this warm, moist air traveled further and further northward, this set the stage for increasing amounts of convectively unstable air parcels due to the increasingly more elevated terrain across many parts of Italy and many surrounding nations.
Hence, the air parcels are naturally forced to rise up and over this higher terrain which leads to more rapid condensation of water droplets, to then form clouds and create the threat for showers and storms. It is also worth noting that some of the stronger and more persistent convection which fired up over parts of Italy has induced some fairly prolific flooding and even some flash flooding in some locations across central/northern Italy. Attached above is nice animated graphic which depicts the recent evolution of this low-pressure system as of earlier in the day on Monday (11/06/2017). 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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