Summer storm surge: Europe braces for weekend of extreme weather
The ESTOFEX group, which deals with storm forecasts for the Old Continent, issued the highest storm warning for Saturday. The dire forecasts primarily concern Germany, France, Switzerland, and northern Italy. It will be a very turbulent weekend in terms of weather.
The third level of threat means that extreme wind gusts and downpours are possible, leading to flooding, flash floods, and even very large hail.
On Saturday morning, dynamic weather reached the regions of Catalonia, where the fire brigade received nearly 130 reports due to downpours early in the morning. In many places, including areas of the Northern Metropolitan Region, waters began flowing as rapid torrents along the streets.
According to local media, up to 0.8 inches of water fell per square yard.
According to the RAC1 station, even tornadoes formed due to the storms. One of them was observed around 10:15 AM at Club Nàutic de Sitges. Although it lasted only thirty seconds, it was a total surprise for people passing by the beach then.
More and more storms across Europe. Experts have no doubts
According to experts, we will record more extreme phenomena due to climate change.
For example, heatwaves will be longer, storms will be somewhat more violent because we have greater thermal differences. Usually, storms form at the junction of two different air masses. The hotter one is, and the cooler the other is, the more violent these storms are. This leads to more violent wind gusts, more intense rainfall, or even hail - said Dr Agnieszka Krzyżewska from the Department of Hydrology and Climatology at UMCS in an interview with Radio Lublin.
