New case of tornadoes close to the coast, Catalonia (Spain).

[Pedro C. Fernández]

Hi there!

I'm not sure if this is the best place to hang on this topic. I'm sorry of it is the wrong place.

Ok. I would like to invite you to take a look to the homepage of Cazatormentas.Net. We offer to our members and guests an impressive photograph about some waterspouts which took place close to the beaches of Catalonia, in the Iberian Peninsula, only one week ago.

Spanish Storm-chasers are very surprised, as today we can see this kind of severe weather phenoman frequently in the last years. Some people think there are much more eyes looking at the sky than before, as the reason by what we can see lot of tornadoes in the present.

This is the link: http://www.cazatormentas.net/index.html

Please click on the imagen to read the complete report and photos.

Many thanks for your time :wink:

 

[Sam Sagnella]

This has got to be one of the most spectacular series of waterspout pictures I've EVER seen. There are a couple that even appear to show a well defined collar cloud structure (might just be a thicker portion of the funnel), and the ones with the rainbow, setting sun, and tornado are PHENOMENAL. Everyone seriously needs to check these out -- there are four pages of rediculous photos.

 

[Khristian Snyder]

Those photos are INSANE! Amazing!
Being at the coast the most rotation I ever get to see is from waterspouts...which are rare here in southern California. We actually had a few funnels yesterday from some simple cumulus origination from some islands offshore.
Those photos are truly incredible!

 

[Pedro C. Fernández]

Many thanks for your nice comments

I would suggest you to take a look to the follow link in Cazatormentas.Net: http://www.cazatormentas.net/foro/index.ph...hp?topic=6568.0

The last report of the best spanish storm-chaser to my eyes, 15th February 2006... Incredible images. There isn't any tornado or hail, but the images are really beautiful :shock: :shock:

 

[Marko Korosec]

Pedro,
those photos are truly insane! I've never seen so spectacular images of waterspouts before! :shock:

Also pretty impressive photos on your second link!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Scott A. Kampas]

There are some cool photos. People really underestimate tornado activity in Europe, a recent reanalysis of tornado climatology found that Spain reports an average of 10 tornadoes per year, wiith an estimated total including missed events of 30. Waterspouts are much more active with 25 reported per year and an estimated total of 150. That with a land area of just over 500,000 km².

For our British friends, they don't have the highest tornado activity per area, that clearly goes to the Netherlands with 20 tornadoes reported (35 total estimate) per year plus 60 waterspouts (100 est total) with an area of 42,000 km² vs. the UK's annual 33 tornado reports (est 50) and 15 waterspouts (est 30) with an area of 245,000 km². The Netherlands has more tornadoes per area than Oklahoma, and occasionally some strong tornadoes.

 

[Susan Strom]

Those are fantastic! The one with the landspout and boat on the water is also truly awesome.

 

[StephenLevine]

Thank you for sharing those breath-taking waterspout shots! Looking at these has helped to make my evening wonderful!
I believe that multiple vortex waterspouts are quite rare. I've only seen one other photo of a multiple vortex waterspout.
Did the narrow rope funnel rotate around the bigger one?
My thought is that this was a low topped supercell. What was the synoptic events that converged in that area on that day?
I was also blown away (pun intended) by the humongous wall cloud photo early in the post. I felt like I was back on the Prairies, complete with the sound of tornado sirens when looking at that one.

 

[Pat Lawrence]

Thanks for sharing the photos, Pedro!!

One almost looked like one of those funnels within a funnel deals...Stupendous shots!!

Pat

 

[Andrew Khan]

I have noticed that Spain gets a lot more frequent Lenticular clouds, is this true? Ah, yes and the photos are truly amazing, very high quality!

 

[Pedro C. Fernández]

I'll try to answer to everybody

Originally posted by StephenLevine

Did the narrow rope funnel rotate around the bigger one?
My thought is that this was a low topped supercell. What was the synoptic events that converged in that area on that day?

I don't know, Stephen We could ask to the author. I attach a high resolution image of that day. I have painted a circle for indicating the cells which generated this phenomenon. The visible structure of the tornado suggests it wasn't associated to a supercell storm. I think it was a waterspout associated to a single-cell or multicell storm.

 

[Pedro C. Fernández]

Originally posted by Andrew Khan
I have noticed that Spain gets a lot more frequent Lenticular clouds, is this true? Ah, yes and the photos are truly amazing, very high quality!

Yes, it is, Andrew. The best places are located close to big mountains. For example, my location (at the south of Sierra Nevada and other big mountains) is a good one.

 

[Pedro C. Fernández]

Originally posted by Scott A. Kampas
There are some cool photos. People really underestimate tornado activity in Europe, a recent reanalysis of tornado climatology found that Spain reports an average of 10 tornadoes per year, wiith an estimated total including missed events of 30. Waterspouts are much more active with 25 reported per year and an estimated total of 150. That with a land area of just over 500,000 km².

For our British friends, they don't have the highest tornado activity per area, that clearly goes to the Netherlands with 20 tornadoes reported (35 total estimate) per year plus 60 waterspouts (100 est total) with an area of 42,000 km² vs. the UK's annual 33 tornado reports (est 50) and 15 waterspouts (est 30) with an area of 245,000 km². The Netherlands has more tornadoes per area than Oklahoma, and occasionally some strong tornadoes.

Most of tornadoes are associated to common storms (not supercells), although some of them are associated to supercells, for example, the important events of Teruel 2003: 23th July and 18th August, two supercells in the same town :roll: :roll: The first one, with a F3 tornado, both with giant hailstones (some of 900 grams :shock: :shock: :shock: ).

 

[B Ozanne]

Are those two cells just inland from Barcelona?

 

[Pedro C. Fernández]

Are those two cells just inland from Barcelona?
[/b]

Yes, Bill. Just the left cell, looking from the sea.