Genoa Low and severe convective storm over the Mediterranean Sea (4 October 2005)

by Livia Briese and Jochen Kerkmann (EUMETSAT)

The Meteosat-8 images and animations below provide an interesting insight into the development of severe weather experienced in Italy and over the Mediterranian Sea. They show the development of a big "Genoa Low", a cyclone that brought heavy rain and subsequent floods to Italy, including "acqua alta" in Venice, during 2-4 October 2005. They also show the formation of a large convective system over the Mediterranean Sea, to the south-east of Sicily. This impressive, long-living storm developed underneath the jet streak (see airmass RGB composite) following a low-level convergence line, which is clearly visible in the HRV image. At 11:00 UTC, it is fully developed and well organised with a clear separation of the inflow/updraft area from the downdraft area and a marked U or V shape. Later on, during the afternoon, it moved away from the jet streak and probably reached the end of the convergence line which led to the rapid decay of the storm.

Meteosat-8 Images Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC Channel 05 (WV6.2) Full Resolution (248 KB) Animation (MPG, 14868 KB) (1 Oct. 15:00 UTC - 4 Oct. 15:00 UTC) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC Channel 09 (IR10.8, colour enhanced) Full Resolution (347 KB) Animation (MPG, 11901 KB) (3 Oct. 12:00 UTC - 4 Oct. 15:00 UTC) See also: Rapidly developing and moving lee cyclone (19 January 2005) Severe convection over Sicily and the Mediterranean Sea (15 October 2003) Animation of Met-6 visible images (rapid scans, 06:00-15:00 UTC, AVI, 6567 KB) Channel 12 (HRV) image from 08:30 UTC (JPG, 96 KB) Channel 09 (IR10.8) black/white image from 11:00 UTC (JPG, 257 KB) RGB composite IR12.0-IR10.8, IR10.8-IR8.7, IR10.8 ("Dust") from 11:00 UTC (JPG, 740 KB) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC RGB Composite NIR1.6, VIS0.8, VIS0.6 Full Resolution (375 KB) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC RGB Composite VIS0.8, IR3.9r, IR10.8 Full Resolution (386 KB) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC RGB Composite (Airmass) WV6.2-WV7.3, IR9.7-IR10.8, WV6.2 Full Resolution (360 KB) Position of jet streak at 08:00 UTC (328 KB) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC RGB Composite WV6.2-WV7.3, IR3.9-IR10.8, NIR1.6-VIS0.6 Full Resolution (374 KB)

Meteosat-8 HRV Images Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC Channel 12 (HRV) Full Resolution (470 KB) Met-8, 04 October 2005, 11:00 UTC RGB Composite HRV, HRV, IR10.8 Full Resolution (633 KB)

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