The climatology of significant tornadoes in the Czech Republic
Authors:
- R. Brázdil,
- K. Chromá,
- T. Púčik,
- Z. Černoch,
- P. Dobrovolný,
- L. Dolák,
- O. Kotyza,
- L. Řezníčková,
- Mateusz Taszarek
Abstract
In the Czech Republic, tornadoes may reach an intensity of F2 and F3 on the Fujita scale, causing "considerable" to "severe" damage. Documentary evidence is sufficient to allow the creation of a chronology of such events, from the earliest recorded occurrence in 1119 CE (Common Era) to 2019, including a total of 108 proven or probable significant tornadoes on 90 separate days. Since only 11 significant tornadoes were documented before 1800, this basic analysis centers around the 1811-2019 period, during which 97 tornadoes were recorded. Their frequency of occurrence was at its highest in the 1921-1930, 1931-1940, and 2001-2010 decades. In terms of annual variations, they took place most frequently in July, June, and August (in order of frequency), while daily variation favored the afternoon and early evening hours. Conservative estimates of human casualties mention 8 fatalities and over 95 people injured. The most frequent types of damage were related to buildings, individual trees, and forests. Tornadoes of F2-F3 intensity were particularly associated with synoptic types characterized by airflow from the western quadrant together with troughs of low pressure extending or advancing over central Europe. Based on parameters calculated from the ERA-5 re-analysis for the period of 1979-2018, most of these tornadoes occurred over a wide range of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) values and moderate-to-strong vertical wind shear. The discussion herein also addresses uncertainties in tornado selection from documentary data, the broader context of Czech significant tornadoes, and the environmental conditions surrounding their origins. © 2020 by the authors.
- Record ID
- UAMe341a7b7ea504d4487d181cb07a789ae
- Author
- Journal series
- Atmosphere, ISSN 2073-4433
- Issue year
- 2020
- Vol
- 11
- No
- 7
- Pages
- 1-20
- Keywords in English
- Czech Republic; Documentary data; Dynamic climatology; Environmental conditions; Spatiotemporal variability; Tornado; Tornado damage; Tornado fatality; Tornado intensity; Potential energy, Annual variations; Central Europe; Convective available potential energies; Czech Republic; Daily variations; Environmental conditions; Individual tree; Vertical wind shear, Tornadoes, airflow; chronology; climate modeling; climatology; Holocene; paleoclimate; temporal variation; tornado; uncertainty analysis, Czech Republic
- ASJC Classification
- ;
- DOI
- DOI:10.3390/atmos11070689 Opening in a new tab
- URL
- https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85088143929&doi=10.3390%2fatmos11070689&partnerID=40&md5=c28a7eafdc1728052d8afd642c071661 Opening in a new tab
- Language
- (en) English
- Score (nominal)
- 70
- Score source
- journalList
- Score
- = 70.0, 10-02-2022, ArticleFromJournal
- Publication indicators
- = 2; = 1; = 4; : 2018 = 0.855; : 2018 (2 years) = 2.046 - 2018 (5 years) =2.253
- Citation count
- 4
Share
- Uniform Resource Identifier
- https://researchportal.amu.edu.pl/info/article/UAMe341a7b7ea504d4487d181cb07a789ae/
- URN
urn:amu-prod:UAMe341a7b7ea504d4487d181cb07a789ae
* presented citation count is obtained through Internet information analysis and it is close to the number calculated by the Publish or PerishOpening in a new tab system.