Co-occurrence of atmospheric deserts over Europe with strong positive temperature anomalies, thunderstorms, and dust events

Fix-Hewitt, Fiona; Zeileis, Achim; Stucke, Isabell; Stauffer, Reto; Mayr, Georg J.

doi:10.5194/wcd-7-2133-2026

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-2133-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-2133-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

Research article

|

05 Nov 2026

Research article |

| 05 Nov 2026

Co-occurrence of atmospheric deserts over Europe with strong positive temperature anomalies, thunderstorms, and dust events

Fiona Fix-Hewitt, Achim Zeileis, Isabell Stucke, Reto Stauffer, and Georg J. Mayr

Data sets

CAMS global atmospheric composition forecasts Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service https://doi.org/10.24381/04a0b097

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Model code and software

Software Open Code used in preparation of the manuscript "Co-occurrence of atmospheric deserts over Europe with strong positive temperature anomalies, thunderstorms, and dust events" by Fix-Hewitt et al., 2026 - reviewed submission Fiona Fix-Hewitt https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19658813

Short summary

Atmospheric deserts are air masses originating in the boundary layer of arid and/or elevated regions and therefore generalise elevated mixed layers. They occur often over Europe and can modify atmospheric profiles, influencing the local weather. We investigate whether unusually high temperatures, thunderstorms, and dust events occur more frequently when atmospheric deserts are present. Indeed, all of these extreme weather events are more likely given that atmospheric desert air is present.