Tornadoes over complex terrain: An analysis of the 28th August 1999 tornadic event in eastern Spain

Abstract

On 28 August 1999, a tornadic storm developed during the afternoon over the Gudar range, near the border between Teruel and Castello ́n provinces (Sistema Ibérico, eastern Spain). The area has a characteristic complex terrain with peaks up to 2000 m. At least one tornado developed, which attained F3 intensity, producing severe damage in the forest that covers the mountains. The region is well known as a summer convective storm nest and, not surprisingly, a range in the Sistema Iberico is called Sierra del Rayo (lightning range). The meteorological situation on 28 August 1999 shows the presence of a thermal low over the Iberian peninsula, producing warm and moist air advection towards inland Castellon at low levels. Meanwhile, a cold trough crossed the Iberian Peninsula from west to east at upper levels. Deep convection is identified on the Meteosat images during the afternoon, when the upper level trough reached the area where warm and humid Mediterranean air was concentrated. The radar images reveal signals indicating the supercellular character of the tornado-producing storm. Weak echo region, frontal and rear inflow notches are identified on the low-level CAPPIs images. In order to study the roles of the orography and the solar radiation on the ingredients associated with the tornadic storm development, numerical simulations of the event were performed, using the non- hydrostatic MM5 model. Very fine grid resolution, up to 2 km in the horizontal, allows us to determine the role of the complex terrain in favoring environmental conditions associated with the onset of severe convection. In fact, interaction of certain low-level flows with particular topographic features with scales of about 20 to 50 km is found to generate intense small-scale circulations over the storm nesting region. A more detailed analysis of the orographic effect shows that fine scale terrain features (2-5 km) are responsible for the intensification of the convective storms, whereas modification of the low-level flow by the large-scale features (20-50 km) is able to trigger the convective systems. The effect of the solar-induced surface heating is also analyzed and it turns to be crucial not only by intensifying the Iberian thermal low and the easterly warm and moist air advection towards the area but also by promoting mountain breezes. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.