Synoptic-scale conditions and convection-resolving hindcast experiments of a cold-season derecho on 3 January 2014 in western Europe

Mathias, Luca; Ludwig, Patrick; Pinto, Joaquim G.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1023-2019

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1023-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1023-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

Research article

|

15 May 2019

Research article |

| 15 May 2019

Synoptic-scale conditions and convection-resolving hindcast experiments of a cold-season derecho on 3 January 2014 in western Europe

Luca Mathias, Patrick Ludwig, and Joaquim G. Pinto

Data sets

ERA5: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/home

The ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/archive-datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim

Short summary

Convective systems producing severe winds occasionally affect Europe during wintertime and the majority of these storms develop along well-defined cold fronts of extratropical cyclones. However, on 3 January 2014, a storm formed in a postfrontal air mass over western Europe. This study analyses the prevailing environmental conditions and the predictability of this storm. Our results reveal the difficulty of forecasting cold-season convective storms when they are not associated with a cold front.