Tornadic, hail and wind storms in Central Europe – when to expect what: a case study of the severe weather outbreak on 20 May 2022
- Deutscher Wetterdienst, Offenbach, Germany (kathrin.wapler@dwd.de)
An understanding of historical events, e.g. regarding the occurrence and characteristics of severe storms, may help to improve the situational awareness of future events. Thus, an example case is used to show typical setups for the occurrence and characteristics of severe convective storms. This case is also used for internal forecasters training.
The case is analysed regarding its synoptic and mesoscale environment as well as storm characteristics. It is discussed in which region to expect which phenomena based on available data. The case study will be presented as poster in a way to allow the conference participants to (re)forecast and (re)nowcast themselves the location, intensity and type of storms.
On 20 May 2022, a severe weather outbreak took place, influencing parts of Central Europe: heavy precipitation, large hail, severe windstorm and at least eight tornadoes occurred according to the European Severe Weather Database.
A pronounced short-wave trough was moving from Western Europe into Germany. The trough led to an intensification of a downstream surface low that was moving from Benelux into Northern Germany during the day.
Radar radial wind data showed persistent rotation tracks. Individual storms show tracks of higher VIL and VII values. The lighting activity of many storms was high including lightning jumps.
How to cite: Beyer, M. and Wapler, K.: Tornadic, hail and wind storms in Central Europe – when to expect what: a case study of the severe weather outbreak on 20 May 2022 , 11th European Conference on Severe Storms, Bucharest, Romania, 8–12 May 2023, ECSS2023-127, https://doi.org/10.5194/ecss2023-127, 2023.
