Zaragoza witnessed this weekend of a most unique weather event: a supercell
From an extreme drought that ravaged the Iberian Peninsula for more than a year we have passed to a few months during which the extreme phenomena have come characterized by intense rainfall. We have seen various rainfall records beaten and we have also seen the most tragic face of these events. A new extreme event. Although it will not come with the destructive power of other storms, the province of Zaragoza has witnessed during the weekend of a new extreme event, A supercell. Supercells are storms with defined characteristics that make them a kind of miniature cyclone. They are more typical of areas such as the great plains of the United States than from Spain, but on Saturday the Aragonese could witness one of these storms. On Sunday, the State Meteorology Agency (AEMET) maintained yellow alerts for adverse phenomena in a good part of the area between the Ebro Valley and the Pyrenees. Notices that materialized in intense storms. The same day, Aemet shared through its social networks some images of this unique storm. Supercells are intense but not completely strange phenomena: similar events were also recorded in the region, according to explained at the time The local press. On that occasion, the storms came to cause a blackout in the city of Huesca, He pointed to the HERALDO DE ARAGÓN. What exactly is a supercell? Supercells are storms With an organized structure. In them, an ascending current transports, sometimes with high speeds, warm air from the surface to higher areas. There, the warm and humid air joins the cold and dry air, which leads to rainfall that can be intense and result in hails. The coexistence of an ascending and another descending current is one of the characteristics of these storms. One that also implies that these types of events can be extended for a certain time. This encounter between warm and cold air has another effect: it makes the storm turn. This triggers another of the characteristics of this type of storms, a mesocyclone, that is, an intermediate cyclone. From hail to tornadoes. According to explains the geographer Pedro de la Fuente to Meteoredthis type of storm involves risks derived from their rainfall and the winds associated with them. These adverse phenomena include hail, which can reach an important size; floods, as a consequence of rainfall, or important bursts of descendant wind. One of the most striking effects of this type of storms are, however, tornadoes. These are not frequent, even when these types of storms occur, but they can be one of the most relevant consequences of the supercells. From Ebro to the Mediterranean. If the storms in the Ebro valley have been protagonists during the weekend, the Mediterranean could take over on Thursday, Meteorologists point out. The storms could affect in particular the southern zone of the Valencian Community, as well as Murcia, Albacete and east of the province of Cuenca. In Xataka | “One of the most extreme phenomena in history”: meteorologists are dismayed before the heat wave of Africa and Asia Image | Matthieu pron
