Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-523-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-523-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Dynamic forcing behind Hurricane Lidia's rapid intensification
Mauricio López-Reyes
Instituto de Astronomía y Meteorología (IAM), Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías (CUCEI), Departamento de Física, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico
Department of Earth Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Instituto Frontera A.C., Departamento de Investigación, Tijuana, México
María Luisa Martín
Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Computer Engineering, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
Institute of Interdisciplinary Mathematics (IMI), Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Computer Engineering, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CIDE, CSIC-UV-Generalitat Valenciana), Climate, Atmosphere and Ocean Laboratory (Climatoc-Lab), Moncada, Valencia, Spain
Juan Jesús González-Alemán
Department of Development and Applications, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Madrid, Spain
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Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 901–926, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-901-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-901-2025, 2025
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Storms strongly resembling hurricanes are sometimes observed to form well outside the tropics, even in polar latitudes. They behave capriciously, developing very rapidly and then dying just as quickly. We show that strong dynamical processes in the atmosphere can sometimes cause it to become much colder locally than the underlying ocean, creating the conditions for hurricanes to form but only over small areas and for short times. We call the resulting storms "CYCLOPs".
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Cyclone Ianos of September 2020 was a high-impact but poorly predicted medicane (Mediterranean hurricane). A community effort of numerical modelling provides robust results to improve prediction. It is found that the representation of local thunderstorms controlled the interaction of Ianos with a jet stream at larger scales and its subsequent evolution. The results help us understand the peculiar dynamics of medicanes and provide guidance for the next generation of weather and climate models.
Emilio Cuevas-Agulló, David Barriopedro, Rosa Delia García, Silvia Alonso-Pérez, Juan Jesús González-Alemán, Ernest Werner, David Suárez, Juan José Bustos, Gerardo García-Castrillo, Omaira García, África Barreto, and Sara Basart
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During February–March (FM) 2020–2022, unusually intense dust storms from northern Africa hit the western Euro-Mediterranean (WEM). Using dust products from satellites and atmospheric reanalysis for 2003–2022, results show that cut-off lows and European blocking are key drivers of FM dust intrusions over the WEM. A higher frequency of cut-off lows associated with subtropical ridges is observed in the late 2020–2022 period.
Christian Ferrarin, Florian Pantillon, Silvio Davolio, Marco Bajo, Mario Marcello Miglietta, Elenio Avolio, Diego S. Carrió, Ioannis Pytharoulis, Claudio Sanchez, Platon Patlakas, Juan Jesús González-Alemán, and Emmanouil Flaounas
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The combined use of meteorological and ocean models enabled the analysis of extreme sea conditions driven by Medicane Ianos, which hit the western coast of Greece on 18 September 2020, flooding and damaging the coast. The large spread associated with the ensemble highlighted the high model uncertainty in simulating such an extreme weather event. The different simulations have been used for outlining hazard scenarios that represent a fundamental component of the coastal risk assessment.
Carlos Calvo-Sancho, Javier Díaz-Fernández, Yago Martín, Pedro Bolgiani, Mariano Sastre, Juan Jesús González-Alemán, Daniel Santos-Muñoz, José Ignacio Farrán, and María Luisa Martín
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1021–1036, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1021-2022, 2022
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Supercells are among the most complex and dangerous severe convective storms due to their associated phenomena (lightning, strong winds, large hail, flash floods, or tornadoes). In this survey we study the supercell synoptic configurations and convective environments in Spain using the atmospheric reanalysis ERA5. Supercells are grouped into hail (greater than 5 cm) and non-hail events in order to compare and analyze the two events. The results reveal statistically significant differences.
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Short summary
This study reveals that Hurricane Lidia's rapid intensification in the northeastern Pacific was triggered by its interaction with a mid-to-upper-level trough. Using ensemble forecasts, we show that this trough enhanced synoptic-scale ascent and upper-level divergence over the storm. These dynamic forcings preceded the rapid intensification (RI) onset, demonstrating that early dynamical triggers are crucial for anticipating explosive hurricane growth and offer a valuable forecasting tool in data-sparse areas.
This study reveals that Hurricane Lidia's rapid intensification in the northeastern Pacific was...