EUMeTrain: Case Study on severe Convection over Central Europe

Summary

The convection over Croatia is only a part of heavy convection episode which happened from 21st to 23rd June in large part of central Europe.

The north part of Adriatic coast and some parts of the inland of Croatia were devastated by severe storm accompanied by hail. Thunderstorms and hail were reported during the night 22nd/23rd and on the early morning on 23rd June but the amount of precipitation was rather small (from fewup to 25 mm). Serious property damages (car, roofs, trees, orchards, crops) were reported.

Strong convective activity started ahead of the cold front induced by orography. The development was nicely depicted in the set of radar-images, but unfortunately the absence of the radars at the Adriatic coast preclude detailed analysis of the convection over the islands.

The atmosphere was very unstable, as can be seen in numerical fields of stability indices and in relevant radio sounding data.

Several nowcasting products were shown in which the convective development on a smaller scale (in time and space) can be followed.

Convective events were investigated also by using colour enhanced infrared 10.8 µm images. This enhancement enables us to study the cloud features (such as cold-U shape and cold-ring shape) and the temperature of the cloud tops in more detail. Severe convective development over some parts of Croatia was well witnessed.