Weather and Climate Dynamics
Weather and Climate Dynamics
WCD
Articles | Volume 1, issue 2
Articles | Volume 1, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-325-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-325-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 1, issue 2
Research article
 | 
17 Jul 2020
Research article |  | 17 Jul 2020

The role of large-scale dynamics in an exceptional sequence of severe thunderstorms in Europe May–June 2018

Susanna Mohr, Jannik Wilhelm, Jan Wandel, Michael Kunz, Raphael Portmann, Heinz Jürgen Punge, Manuel Schmidberger, Julian F. Quinting, and Christian M. Grams

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-325-2020-supplement

Data sets

Niederschlagsdaten DWD https://cdc.dwd.de/portal

European Climate Assessment & Dataset project ECA&D https://knmi-ecad-assets-prd.s3.amazonaws.com/download/ECA_blend_rr.zip

Observations In situ Météo-France https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/?fond=rubrique&id_rubrique=26

Bodenstationsdaten der MeteoSchweiz MeteoSwiss https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/home/services-and-publications/beratung-und-service/datenportal-fuer-lehre-und-forschung.html

Messdaten ZAMG https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/de/klima/produkte-und-services/daten-und-statistiken/messdaten

Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) NOAA https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/weather-balloon/integrated-global-radiosonde-archive

European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) ESSL https://www.eswd.eu

ERA-Interim reanalysis ECMWF https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/interim-full-daily

TIGGE Data Retrieval ECMWF https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/tigge

Video supplement

Video supplement: Animated 2D radar reflectivity of the German Weather Service (DWD) for 27 May 2018 S. Mohr https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000118571

Video supplement: Animated 2D radar reflectivity of the German Weather Service (DWD) for 31 May 2018 S. Mohr https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000118574

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Short summary
We investigated an exceptional thunderstorm episode in 2018, in which atmospheric blocking provided large-scale environmental conditions favouring convection. Furthermore, blocking was accompanied by a high cut-off frequency on its upstream side, which together with filaments of high PV provided the mesoscale setting for deep moist convection. The exceptional persistence of low stability combined with weak wind speed in the mid-troposphere over more than 3 weeks has never been observed before.
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