A Mediterranean derecho: Catalonia (Spain), 17th August 2003

At approximately 6:10 UTC in the morning of 17th August 2003, a squall line developed over south Catalonia (the northeast region of Spain). During the next 9 h, the squall moved rapidly northeast and crossed Catalonia and the French regions of Languedoc–Roussillon and Province, damaging and uprooting hundreds of trees and blocking trains in the region. Wind gusts reached were recoded up to 52 m/s with evidence of F2 intensity damage. This case study shows the characteristics of a derecho (widespread convectively induced windstorm).Radar observations of the evolving squall line show signatures often correlated with damaging surface winds, including:

a. Bow echoes,

b. Rear inflow notches,

c. Rear inflow jets,

d. Medium altitude radial convergence,

e. Narrow gradient of very marked reflectivity,

f. Development of isolated cells ahead of the convective line,

g. A band of convection off the northern end of the line known as a “warm advection wing”.

When examining the different surface observations, satellite, radar imagery and cloud-to-ground lightning data, this case shows many similarities to those investigated in the United States. The derecho is a hybrid case, but has many characteristics of warm season derechoes. This emanates from a mesoscale convective complex (MCC) moving along a quasi-stationary, low-level thermal boundary in an environment characterized by high potential instability and relatively strong mid-tropospheric winds.     

美国Derecho研究简介及中国Derecho现象初探

本文简要介绍了美国有关Derecho的研究成果,并指出我国也存在Derecho现象。同时为了更好地认识我国的Derecho现象,对中、美两地的Derecho个例进行了对比分析,讨论了它们之间的异同,为我国的Derecho研究做了有意义的尝试。