Strong Convection Impacts Many Parts of Greece! (credit: Meteo Europe)

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