On 7 December 2010 a long lived convective storm formed southwest of Lisbon in an instability lin... more On 7 December 2010 a long lived convective storm formed southwest of Lisbon in an instability line that developed in a verymoist and unstable airmass, in the circulation of an extra-tropical cyclone propagating north-eastwards. This storm crossed the Lisbon district and spawned an F3 tornado a few dozens of kilometers to the northeast. Several parameters evaluating buoyancy, available moisture and vertical wind shear, were derived fromLisbon rawinsonde and ECMWF analyses, highlighting an environment that is favourable for tornadic development. The tornado touchdownoccurred by 14:15UTC, lasting for about 45 min and producing an exceptionally long damage path of around 54 km, according to the damage survey. It caused about 18 million Euros damage, N40 injured people, but no fatalities. This storm had a very long lifetime of at least 5 h, intensified inland, sustained strong updrafts during, at least, 1 h and hold large hail cores as observed on radar. Exhibiting several supercell like features, it also produced intense lightning,with a predominance of cloud-to-ground flashes before the tornado touchdown and intra-cloud flashes during the tornado lifetime. Furthermore, in high resolution visible satellite imagery, a pattern of feeder clouds was identified one hour before tornadogenesis. This pattern has been associated to storm intensification and the onset of severe weather.
On 7 December 2010 a long lived convective storm formed southwest of Lisbon in an instability lin... more On 7 December 2010 a long lived convective storm formed southwest of Lisbon in an instability line that developed in a verymoist and unstable airmass, in the circulation of an extra-tropical cyclone propagating north-eastwards. This storm crossed the Lisbon district and spawned an F3 tornado a few dozens of kilometers to the northeast. Several parameters evaluating buoyancy, available moisture and vertical wind shear, were derived fromLisbon rawinsonde and ECMWF analyses, highlighting an environment that is favourable for tornadic development. The tornado touchdownoccurred by 14:15UTC, lasting for about 45 min and producing an exceptionally long damage path of around 54 km, according to the damage survey. It caused about 18 million Euros damage, N40 injured people, but no fatalities. This storm had a very long lifetime of at least 5 h, intensified inland, sustained strong updrafts during, at least, 1 h and hold large hail cores as observed on radar. Exhibiting several supercell like features, it also produced intense lightning,with a predominance of cloud-to-ground flashes before the tornado touchdown and intra-cloud flashes during the tornado lifetime. Furthermore, in high resolution visible satellite imagery, a pattern of feeder clouds was identified one hour before tornadogenesis. This pattern has been associated to storm intensification and the onset of severe weather.
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in a verymoist and unstable airmass, in the circulation of an extra-tropical cyclone propagating north-eastwards.
This storm crossed the Lisbon district and spawned an F3 tornado a few dozens of kilometers to the
northeast. Several parameters evaluating buoyancy, available moisture and vertical wind shear, were derived
fromLisbon rawinsonde and ECMWF analyses, highlighting an environment that is favourable for tornadic development.
The tornado touchdownoccurred by 14:15UTC, lasting for about 45 min and producing an exceptionally
long damage path of around 54 km, according to the damage survey. It caused about 18 million Euros damage,
N40 injured people, but no fatalities. This storm had a very long lifetime of at least 5 h, intensified inland,
sustained strong updrafts during, at least, 1 h and hold large hail cores as observed on radar. Exhibiting several
supercell like features, it also produced intense lightning,with a predominance of cloud-to-ground flashes before
the tornado touchdown and intra-cloud flashes during the tornado lifetime. Furthermore, in high resolution visible
satellite imagery, a pattern of feeder clouds was identified one hour before tornadogenesis. This pattern has
been associated to storm intensification and the onset of severe weather.
in a verymoist and unstable airmass, in the circulation of an extra-tropical cyclone propagating north-eastwards.
This storm crossed the Lisbon district and spawned an F3 tornado a few dozens of kilometers to the
northeast. Several parameters evaluating buoyancy, available moisture and vertical wind shear, were derived
fromLisbon rawinsonde and ECMWF analyses, highlighting an environment that is favourable for tornadic development.
The tornado touchdownoccurred by 14:15UTC, lasting for about 45 min and producing an exceptionally
long damage path of around 54 km, according to the damage survey. It caused about 18 million Euros damage,
N40 injured people, but no fatalities. This storm had a very long lifetime of at least 5 h, intensified inland,
sustained strong updrafts during, at least, 1 h and hold large hail cores as observed on radar. Exhibiting several
supercell like features, it also produced intense lightning,with a predominance of cloud-to-ground flashes before
the tornado touchdown and intra-cloud flashes during the tornado lifetime. Furthermore, in high resolution visible
satellite imagery, a pattern of feeder clouds was identified one hour before tornadogenesis. This pattern has
been associated to storm intensification and the onset of severe weather.