11 thoughts on “Hurricane-force wind gusts on Crete from system that looks a lot like a hurricane”
The tropical storm, which had formed east of Malta on the weekend, moved further eastwards on the night of the Monday and now reaches Greece. He has continued to strengthen and has developed an eye. Such tropical storms occur occasionally in the Mediterranean. If they reach hurricane strength, they are called "Medicane".
…
The tropical hurricanes on the Mediterranean do not get a name, and there is no official service for the storms. Therefore, there are also no reconnaissance flights into the storms and the exact strength can only be roughly estimated. Under favorable conditions, tropical or sub-tropical (not purely tropical) storms can also occur in the Mediterranean. Contrary to many publications, you do not need 26 or 27 degrees of warm water to create a hurricane. Decisive are the temperature differences between the water and the air at higher altitudes. If these are large enough, there may be an increase in showers and thunderstorms, and if they do not disturb an unfavorable, high altitude winds, they form a tropical storm. Currently the water temperatures in the train of the storm are 23 to 24 degrees.
You'll see debates on these since they sometimes pop up in the middle of winter with like 16C water temperatures. This is one of the more purely tropical ones which is interesting!
I'm amazed there's organized vortex systems with eyewalls in the Med. I didn't think there was enough room. And, how much of an evaporation rate must there be for these things to form at those water temperatures?
I'm always surprised when I see it, they seem to be small systems though.
As long as the upper-air temperatures are cold enough I can't imagine why it would work much differently than a normal tropical cyclone but I admit I haven't looked into the details of these odd storms too much!
Yeah, if there's a lot of cold air mass aloft the temp. differential would sure drive that engine. Cool. I've seen some of the (relatively) small "bombs" that form in the midwest and spin out through the Northeast forming vortex eyes too.
Thanks for this, I love running into new meteorological facts.
I'm glad you learned something! I remember reading about something similar to this that formed on Lake Huron in like 1996, too? Talk about a small area to form in.
Yup, and earlier was the infamous | White Hurricane of 1913. | I'm just so used to seeing brutal weather pop up over here that when the same thing happens in the Med it surprised me.
I avoid learning, but sometimes it's unavoidable so I just go with it.
Not learning seems to make some people really good at politics!
♪♫Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night,
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God―they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane…♪♫
The tropical storm, which had formed east of Malta on the weekend, moved further eastwards on the night of the Monday and now reaches Greece. He has continued to strengthen and has developed an eye. Such tropical storms occur occasionally in the Mediterranean. If they reach hurricane strength, they are called "Medicane".
…
The tropical hurricanes on the Mediterranean do not get a name, and there is no official service for the storms. Therefore, there are also no reconnaissance flights into the storms and the exact strength can only be roughly estimated. Under favorable conditions, tropical or sub-tropical (not purely tropical) storms can also occur in the Mediterranean. Contrary to many publications, you do not need 26 or 27 degrees of warm water to create a hurricane. Decisive are the temperature differences between the water and the air at higher altitudes. If these are large enough, there may be an increase in showers and thunderstorms, and if they do not disturb an unfavorable, high altitude winds, they form a tropical storm. Currently the water temperatures in the train of the storm are 23 to 24 degrees.
"Medicanes" Happen. (!!)
You'll see debates on these since they sometimes pop up in the middle of winter with like 16C water temperatures. This is one of the more purely tropical ones which is interesting!
I'm amazed there's organized vortex systems with eyewalls in the Med. I didn't think there was enough room. And, how much of an evaporation rate must there be for these things to form at those water temperatures?
I'm always surprised when I see it, they seem to be small systems though.
As long as the upper-air temperatures are cold enough I can't imagine why it would work much differently than a normal tropical cyclone but I admit I haven't looked into the details of these odd storms too much!
Yeah, if there's a lot of cold air mass aloft the temp. differential would sure drive that engine. Cool. I've seen some of the (relatively) small "bombs" that form in the midwest and spin out through the Northeast forming vortex eyes too.
Thanks for this, I love running into new meteorological facts.
I'm glad you learned something! I remember reading about something similar to this that formed on Lake Huron in like 1996, too? Talk about a small area to form in.
Yup, and earlier was the infamous | White Hurricane of 1913. | I'm just so used to seeing brutal weather pop up over here that when the same thing happens in the Med it surprised me.
I avoid learning, but sometimes it's unavoidable so I just go with it.
Not learning seems to make some people really good at politics!
medicanes sans frontiers.?
You are
like a hurricane.
♪♫Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night,
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God―they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane…♪♫