Articles | Volume 26, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6163-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6163-2022
Research article
 | 
09 Dec 2022
Research article |  | 09 Dec 2022

Atmospheric conditions favouring extreme precipitation and flash floods in temperate regions of Europe

Judith Meyer, Malte Neuper, Luca Mathias, Erwin Zehe, and Laurent Pfister

Related authors

CAMELS-LUX: Highly Resolved Hydro-Meteorological and Atmospheric Data for Physiographically Characterized Catchments around Luxembourg
Judith Nijzink, Ralf Loritz, Laurent Gourdol, Davide Zoccatelli, Jean François Iffly, and Laurent Pfister
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-482,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-482, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary

Cited articles

Ashley, S. T. and Ashley, W. S.: The storm morphology of deadly flooding events in the United States, Int. J. Climatol., 28, 493–503, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1554, 2008. 
Bertola, M., Viglione, A., Lun, D., Hall, J., and Blöschl, G.: Flood trends in Europe: are changes in small and big floods different?, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1805–1822, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1805-2020, 2020. 
Bertola, M., Viglione, A., Vorogushyn, S., Lun, D., Merz, B., and Blöschl, G.: Do small and large floods have the same drivers of change?, A regional attribution analysis in Europe, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1347–1364, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1347-2021, 2021. 
Brauer, C. C., Teuling, A. J., Overeem, A., van der Velde, Y., Hazenberg, P., Warmerdam, P. M. M., and Uijlenhoet, R.: Anatomy of extraordinary rainfall and flash flood in a Dutch lowland catchment, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1991–2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-1991-2011, 2011. 
Bronstert, A., Agarwal, A., Boessenkool, B., Fischer, M., Heistermann, M., and Köhn-Reich, L.: Die Sturzflut von Braunsbach am 29. Mai 2016 – Entstehung, Ablauf und Schäden eines “Jahrhundertereignisses”, Teil 1: Meteorologische und hydrologische Analyse, Hydrol. und Wasserbewirtschaftung, 61, 150–162, https://doi.org/10.5675/HyWa, 2017. 
Download
Short summary
We identified and analysed the major atmospheric components of rain-intense thunderstorms that can eventually lead to flash floods: high atmospheric moisture, sufficient latent instability, and weak thunderstorm cell motion. Between 1981 and 2020, atmospheric conditions became likelier to support strong thunderstorms. However, the occurrence of extreme rainfall events as well as their rainfall intensity remained mostly unchanged.
Share