The country could well experience a “Medicane” in the coming days, a rare phenomenon that would lead to further very heavy rains and even fiercer winds.
After the flames, the flood? While Greece experienced historic fires this summer, the country has been hit by a storm and severe flooding since yesterday and fears the worst for the coming days. Some people fear that the kingdom of Zeus is being plagued by a rare meteorological phenomenon called Medicane. It is an abbreviation of “Mediterranean” and the English term “hurricane” and has the same structure as the hurricane, with an eye and a wall of clouds rotating around it, accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain. While it generally remains less devastating, it rarely reaches Category 1 hurricane strength or 75 mph (120 km/h).
“At the moment, however, it is still just a low pressure area and not yet a drug with a hot core like tropical cyclones,” says Caroline Muller, researcher in atmospheric and climate sciences at CNRS. , currently a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria. According to the forecasts, which are therefore subject to a certain degree of uncertainty, it can still be expected that it will become a drug on Wednesday or Thursday, where, according to Swiss models, wind speeds of up to 200 km/h will occur, i.e. a very important phenomenon . ”
According to the Greek Meteorological Service, the storm called Daniel has already caused 600 mm of rainfall this Tuesday in Pelion, in the center of the country, equivalent to what falls in Paris in a year. “Specifically, the Zagora weather station recorded 645 mm of rain from start (00:00) to noon (3:00) on Tuesday, September 5,” explains meteo.gr, which appears on its X account (formerly Twitter) states that “The rain will continue throughout the day, potentially setting a new European record.” So far the bad weather has resulted in the death of at least one person.
The persistence of such a phenomenon is “related to a situation in which the air is blocked in the form of an omega, with high pressure in France and on both sides, including Greece, low pressure and humid air.” In these conditions, the air does not circulate and the rain accumulates,” adds Caroline Muller.
On her Twitter account, climatologist Monica Ionita warns: “The current weather situation in Europe is a classic Omega block.” While Central Europe will “benefit” from a heat wave, Greece will face one #Medicine with catastrophic damage from heavy rains and floods fueled by an extremely warm Mediterranean Sea.”
However, if it were to happen, this statistically weak event would not be new: Italy experienced a drug in 2021, Greece in 2020. “The phenomenon could be favored by global warming in that this increases the energy of the seas and oceans and “What is then released into the atmosphere,” adds Caroline Muller.