ADGEO Advances in Geosciences ADGEO Adv. Geosci. 1680-7359 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/adgeo-12-115-2007 High impact weather and cyclones simultaneity in Catalonia Campins J. 1 Aran M. 2 Genovés A. 1 Jansà A. 1 Centro Meteorológico Territorial en Illes Balears, Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Spain Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain 19 09 2007 12 115 120 Copyright: © 2007 J. Campins et al. 2007 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ This article is available from https://adgeo.copernicus.org/articles/12/115/2007/adgeo-12-115-2007.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://adgeo.copernicus.org/articles/12/115/2007/adgeo-12-115-2007.pdf

The Western Mediterranean in general and Catalonia in particular are usually affected by high impact weather (HIW) events, mainly heavy rain (HR) and strong wind (SW). The improvement in the understanding and the accurate forecast of such events are major concerns for the meteorologists of the region. In the present study, HR and SW events in Catalonia are cross-referenced with an objective cyclone database for a 9-year period (from June 1995 to May 2004). Results show that in most of the HR events a cyclone is located close to Catalonia, in such a way that the feeding of a moist flow to the affected region was favoured. These cyclones can be either shallow and weak or deep and intense. A simultaneous cyclone also appears to be connected with many SW events. However, other SW events seem to be related to meso-scale circulations and, as a result, not always well captured in the cyclone database. Finally, coincident HR and SW events are analysed. In almost all of such events a deep cyclone is located in the vicinity of Catalonia.

 References Bessemoulin, P., Bougeault, P., Genovés, A., Jansà, A., and Puech, D.: Mountain pressure drag during PYREX, Beitr. Phys. Atmosph., 66, 305–325, 1993. Bougeault, P., Benech, B., Bessemoulin, P., Carissimo, B., Jansà, A., Pelon, J., Petitdidier, M., and Richard, E.: PYREX: Summary of findings, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 637–650, 1997. Buzzi, A., D'Isidoro, M., and Davolio, S.: A case-study of an orographic cyclone south of the Alps during the MAP SOP, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 129, 1795–1818, 2003. Campins, J., Jansà, A., Benech, B., Koffi, E., and Bessemoulin, P.: PYREX observation and model diagnosis of the tramontane wind, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 56, 209–228, 1995. Campins, J., Jansà, A., and Genovés, A.: Heavy rain and strong wind events and cyclones in the Balearics, Adv. Geosci., 7, 73–77, 2006. Campins, J., Jansà, A., and Genovés, A.: Three-dimensional structure of Western Mediterranean cyclones, Int. J. Climatol., 26, 323–343, 2006. Horvath, K., Fita, L., Romero, R., Ivancan-Picek, B., and Stiperski, I.: Cyclogenesis in the lee of the Atlas Mountain: a factor separation numerical study, Adv. Geosci., 7, 327–331, 2006. Homar, V., Romero, R. Ramis, C., and Alonso, S.: Numerical study of the October 2000 torrential precipitation event over eastern Spain: analyses of the synoptic scale stationarity, Ann. Geophys., 20, 2047–2066, 2002. Jansà, A., Genovés, A., Picornell, M. A., Campins, J., Riosalido, R., and Carretero, O.: Western Mediterranean cyclones and heavy rain. Part 2: Statistical approach, Meteorol. Appl., 8, 43–56, 2001. Llasat, M. C.: Gota fr\'ia, Editorial Boixareu Universitaria, Ciencias, No 6, (in Spanish), Barcelona, 1991. López, J. M. and Aran, M.: Estudio de una ciclogénesis rápida mediterranea: Catalu\~na, 9–10 de junio de 2000, Nota Técnica del CMT de Catalu\~na, Instituto Nacional de Meteorolog\'ia, 2004. Pascual, R. and Callado, A.: Mesoanalysis of recurrent convergence zones in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, Proceedings of the ERAD-2002, 59–64, 2002. Picornell, M. A., Jansà, A., Genovés, A., and Campins, J.: Automated database of mesocyclones from the HIRLAM(INM-0.5\degree) analyses in the Western Mediterranean, Int. J. Climatol., 21, 335–354, 2001. Riosalido, R., Vázquez, L., Gordo, A., and Jansà, A.: Cierzo: Northwesterly wind along the Ebro Valley(Spain) as a mesoscale effect induced on the lee of the Pyrenees mountain range; a case study during the Alpine Experiment(ALPEX) Special Observing Period, WMO Proceedings of the Conference on the Scientific Results of the Alpine Experiment(ALPEX), Vol 2, 565–575, GARP Publications Series No 27, WMO/TD No 108, 1986. Romero, R., Sumner, G., Ramis, C., and Genovés, A.: A classification of the atmospheric circulation patterns producing significant daily rainfall in the Spanish Mediterranean area, Int. J. Climatol., 19, 765–785, 1999.