Investigating a local windstorm using measurements and large-eddy simulations

During a winter storm in January 2007, a train derailed due to strong winds in a narrow valley in northeastern Switzerland. The accident was attributed to the Laseyer, a local windstorm characterized by flow reversal that manifests as easterly to southeasterly winds at the valley floor during strong prevailing northwesterly winds above. We analyze case studies of the local windstorm using sonic anemometer and Doppler lidar measurements. The data reveal a highly turbulent flow in the narrow valley and extreme wind speeds exceeding 45 m/s during Laseyer conditions.

Additionally, we use a newly developed large-eddy simulation (LES) atmospheric model to improve our understanding of the local windstorm. The model is implemented in a Python environment with the GT4Py (GridTools for Python) domain-specific library to enable performance portability.  Robust and efficient solution of the nonhydrostatic compressible equations is achieved using a finite-volume semi-implicit discretization following ECMWF’s IFS-FVM. LESs are performed above the highly complex terrain of northeastern Switzerland, which leads to extremely steep slopes exceeding 70°. With these LESs, we identify the mechanism behind the local windstorm, study its sensitivity to ambient flow conditions, and characterize the flow conditions in the narrow valley.