Spanish plume explained

The Spanish Plume (Penacho Ibérico in Spanish and Spaanse Pluim in Dutch) is a weather pattern in which a plume of warm air moves from the Iberian plateau or the Sahara to northwestern Europe, causing thunderstorms. This meteorological pattern can lead to extreme high temperatures and intense rainfall during the summer months, with potential for flash flooding, damaging hail, and tornado formation. Some of these intense thunderstorms are formed from thermal lows, which are also known as heat lows. Thermal lows can be semipermanent features around some parts of Europe, particularly in the summer season. These thermal lows can be developed or created around Spain, Portugal, France, etc., during the summer season because of the intense heat. Thermal low pressure can be located around the world, particularly in the summer or in tropical regions.

Notable occurrences

Similar regional set-ups

Mexican Plume

A similar pattern, though on a larger scale, is the Mexican plume in the south west USA, where hot dry air from the Mexican highlands acts as a cap to convection until lifted over Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.[6] [37] [38]

Eastern Baltic

In Finland and the Baltic states meteorologists have observed a situation conducive to severe summer storm development which occurs when a warm moist air mass flows into the region from the south or south east under the influence of an upper-level trough. These conditions have some similarities to the Spanish plume.[39] The synoptic conditions see a low over southern Norway, bringing warm south and southwesterly flows of air up from the inner continental areas of Russia and Belarus.[40]

Animated descriptions of Spanish plume

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Stratton, J. M.. Agricultural Records. John Baker. London. 1969. 978-0-212-97022-3.
  2. Mahieu. Pierre. Wesolek. Emmanuel. CONSEQUENCES OF TORNADIC STORMS IN URBAN AREAS:CASE STUDY OF THE PARIS TORNADO (FRANCE) IN SEPTEMBER 10,1896. 6th European Conference on Severe Storms. 2011. 26 August 2011. 5 June 2015.
  3. Webb. Jonathan D. C.. Severe thunderstorms disrupt the Diamond Jubilee on Midsummer Day 1897. Weather. 2012. 67. 7. 174–175. 10.1002/wea.1959. 2012Wthr...67..174W. free.
  4. News: Lee. John. Extreme weather in the UK. 12 August 2013. Meteogroup:Weathercast. 10 August 2013.
  5. News: Wild weather: Dorset's 1955 'record rainfall'?. 12 August 2013. BBC News. 10 September 2010.
  6. Carlson. T. N.. Ludlam, F. H. . Conditions for the occurrence of severe local storms. Tellus. 1968. XX. 2. 5 November 2012. 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1968.tb00364.x. 203–226. 1968Tell...20..203C.
  7. Browning . K.A. . Keith Browning . F.H. Ludlum . Airflow in Convective Storms . Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society . 88 . 376 . 117–35 . Apr 1962 . 10.1002/qj.49708837602 . 1962QJRMS..88..117B . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120307213602/http://www.rmets.org/pdf/qj62browning.pdf . 2012-03-07 .
  8. The dust fall and severe storms of 1 July 1968. Catherine M.. Stevenson. 1969. Weather. 10.1002/wea.780. 66. 5. 125–127. 120810352 . free.
  9. Web site: Spanish Plume. Meteogroup. 3 November 2012.
  10. Webb. Jonathan D. C.. The great summer heatwaves of 1975 and 1976 in the UK, and some violent storms. International Journal of Meteorology. 2011. 36. 255–261.
  11. Clark. Matthew R.. Webb, Jonathan D. C. . A severe hailstorm across the English Midlands on 28 June 2012. Weather. November 2013. 68. 11. 284–291. 10.1002/wea.2162. 2013Wthr...68..284C. 122651210 .
  12. http://www.keraunos.org/orages-25-26-juillet-1983-derecho-mcs-macrorafales-charente-vienne-poitou.pdf
  13. Webb. J.D.C.. Elsom, D.M. . Reynolds, D.J. . Climatology of severe hailstorms in Great Britain. Atmospheric Research. January 2001. 56. 1–4. 291–308. 10.1016/S0169-8095(00)00081-8. 2001AtmRe..56..291W .
  14. McCallum. E.. Waters, A. J. . Severe thunderstorms over south-east England, 20/21 July 1992: Satellite and radar perspective of a mesoscale convective system. Weather. July 1993. 48. 7. 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1993.tb05886.x. 198–208. 1993Wthr...48..198M .
  15. Young. M. V.. Severe thunderstorms over south-east England on 24 June 1994: A forecasting perspective. Weather. 50. 7. 250–256. 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1995.tb06121.x. 1995Wthr...50..250Y . 1995.
  16. Hannesen. Ronald. Nikolai Dotzek . Hermann Gysi . Klaus D. Beheng . Case study of a tornado in the Upper Rhine valley. Meteorologische Zeitschrift. 7. 4. 1998. 163–170. 29 November 2012. 10.1127/metz/7/1998/163. 1998MetZe...7..163H.
  17. Webb. Jonathan D. C.. Pike, William S. . Thunderstorms and hail on 7 June 1996: An early season 'Spanish plume' event. Weather. 1998. 53. 8. 234–241. 10.1002/j.1477-8696.1998.tb06391.x. 1998Wthr...53..234W . 121016483 .
  18. van Delden. A.. The synoptic setting of a thundery low and associated prefrontal squall line in western Europe. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics. 65. 1–2. 113–131. 10.1007/BF01030272. 1998MAP....65..113D . 1998. 67786470.
  19. Holley. D. M.. Dorling. S. R.. Steele. C. J.. Earl. N.. A climatology of convective available potential energy in Great Britain. International Journal of Climatology. November 2014. 34. 14. 3811–3824. 10.1002/joc.3976. 2014IJCli..34.3811H . free.
  20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAD_0pVJB9s BBC Weather 3 August 2004: Thunderstorms
  21. Web site: Pukkelpop storm, Chapter II: Description of the synoptic situation. EUMeTrain. 18 February 2013.
  22. News: Tornado richt ravage aan. 29 November 2012. De Standaard. 11 May 2012. Dutch.
  23. News: Demeyer. Paul. Spaanse pluim richt ravage aan. 1 December 2012. Nieuwsblad.be. 11 May 2012. Dutch.
  24. Web site: Surge Bulletin. GAB Robins. 18 February 2013. July 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120702010101/http://www.gabrobins.co.uk/media/13101/surge_bulletin_-_2_july_2012.pdf. 2 July 2012.
  25. News: 'Plume' blamed for freak weather. 18 December 2012. Orange News. 29 June 2012.
  26. Web site: Storms and plumes. MeteoGroup. 18 December 2012.
  27. News: Penston. Seán. Heavy and thundery rain across Ireland and the UK. 30 July 2013. Meteogroup:Weathercast. 27 July 2013.
  28. News: Supercells over parts of France brought severe thunderstorms, large hail and flash flooding from 7–9 June.. 10 June 2014. EUMETSAT. 10 June 2014.
  29. News: Un week-end de Pentecôte marqué par une forte activité orageuse. 10 June 2014. Météo France. 10 June 2014. French.
  30. News: Lightning strikes and heavy rain over the weekend. 22 July 2014. Met Office. 21 July 2014.
  31. News: Mills. Ian. Lancaster. Sancha. Very hot, moist conditions triggered thunderstorms and lightning over parts of Europe in mid-July.. 22 July 2014. EUMETSAT. 22 July 2014.
  32. News: Vague de chaleur : des températures record. 2 July 2015. Météo-France. 2 July 2015. French.
  33. News: 2 July 2015 – Record breaking hot weather for July in the UK. 2 July 2015. Met Office. 2 July 2015.
  34. Lewis. Matthew W.. Silkstone. Nicholas. Improvements in nowcasting capability: analysis of three structurally distinct severe thunderstorms across northern England on 1 July 2015. Weather. April 2017. 72. 4. 91–98. 10.1002/wea.2837. 2017Wthr...72...91L. 126199006 .
  35. News: Lightning storm hits UK and Ireland with spectacular lightshow, in pictures. Telegraph.co.uk. 2017-05-24. en.
  36. News: Lisburn lightning strike: George Allen 'continuing to fight', family says. 2016-06-16. BBC News. 2017-05-24. en-GB.
  37. Web site: Oxford Index: Spanish Plume. Oxford University Press. 29 November 2012.
  38. Web site: Oxford Reference: Mexican plume. Oxford Reference. 11 April 2013.
  39. Punkka. Ari-Juhani. Marja Bister . Occurrence of Summertime Convective Precipitation and Mesoscale Convective Systems in Finland during 2000–01. Monthly Weather Review. 2005. 133. 2. 362–373. 10.1175/MWR-2854.1. 2005MWRv..133..362P . free.
  40. Tuovinen. Jari-Petteri . Ari-Juhani Punkka . Jenni Rauhala . Harri Hohti . David M. Schultz. Climatology of Severe Hail in Finland: 1930–2006. Monthly Weather Review. 2008. 137. 7 . 2238–2249. 10.1175/2008MWR2707.1. 2009MWRv..137.2238T . 10.1.1.717.2828 .