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EFAS Bimonthly Bulletin Oct-Nov 2012 V1.Docx European Flood Awareness System EFAS Bulletin December 2019 – January 2020 Issue 2020(1) EUROPEAN FLOOD AWARENESS SYSTEM: Bimonthly Bulletin – Issue 2020(1) NEWS EFAS-MDCC would like to thank AEMET very much for New features providing their data through the Open Data portal and for providing help to resolve questions from their data EFAS data on CDS gets DOI users. The EFAS data on CDS have now been given digital ob- ject identifiers (DOI) to make it easier to link to and EFAS version 3.5 release reference the data. The following DOI’s should now be EFAS version 3.5 is planned to be released on Thursday used in publications and links: 5 March 2020. It contains updates on static maps (riv- ers drainage network in Albania) and on the LISFLOOD EFAS forecasts: model. Managing of riverbed and floodplain flow in https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.9f696a7a LISFLOOD has been improved and all outputs are now saved in double precision. EFAS 3.5 is not a major up- EFAS historical simulations: date since the impact on the discharge is very limited. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.e3458969 However, since the model was updated over Albania it comes with a new EFAS climatology. EFAS-MDCC integrated Spanish meteorological sta- tion data from AEMET There were several changes to the web interface, in- In January 2020, the EFAS-MDCC team integrated the cluding several bug fixes. Here is a summary: meteorological station data from the Spain state mete- orological agency (AEMET) into the operational • EFAS version numbering is now shown in the processing routines. AEMET station data are down- Layer List loaded every 6 hours from the AEMET Open Data • Buttons were added to hide and remove all portal. In total, data for 823 stations is loaded into the layers in the Layer list EFAS-MDCC database. Available data for precipitation, • A button was also added in the pop-up of the temperature, wind, relative humidity, solar radiation, reporting points that explain the graphs with a sunshine duration and dew-point temperature are pro- hyperlink to the wiki page cessed. Precipitation and temperature data for about • Changes to the feedback forms submissions 690 stations and wind speed data for nearly 600 sta- were made so that only one partner can sub- tions are included into the gridded precipitation fields mit a feedback for a specific notification, but produced every day in the early morning as input for at the same time the same notification can re- the EFAS forecasts. Solar radiation data from the avail- ceive different feedbacks from different able 34 stations is also used in the gridded solar partners. radiation fields. • The symbols and legend for the Reporting Points to highlight basins <2000 Km2 were changed • The colours of the notifications and legend in the viewer were changed to be clearer • The Country Borders layer from the static layer tab, this layer will be visible only to the part- ners that can see the other restricted layers as the water Balance. Other users will only be able to use the country borders layer by changing the background map. For more information on this and previous releases, please see the EFAS wiki. New partner Figure 1. AEMET stations in Spain We gladly welcome the Regional Civil Protection of Fri- uli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy as new EFAS partner. 2 EUROPEAN FLOOD AWARENESS SYSTEM: Bimonthly Bulletin – Issue 2020(1) RESULTS moved around in this region and caused intense pre- cipitation events at the Spanish and French Summary of EFAS Flood and Flash flood Notifications Mediterranean coasts. The 80 formal and 17 informal EFAS flood notifications In the following days, the remaining high-pressure sys- issued in December 2019-January 2020 are summa- tems weakened or moved to the Azores, so most of the rised in Table 1. The locations of all notifications are EFAS-domain was influenced by low-pressure systems shown in Figure 32 and Figure 34 in the appendix. causing large-scale precipitation. A weak low-pressure system at the eastern Mediterranean region caused 528 Flash flood notification were issued in December heavy precipitation in Israel and Lebanon. Another 2019 - January 2020. They are summarised in Table 2. low-pressure system developed over northern Africa, The locations of all notifications are shown in Figure 33 moved to the central and eastern Mediterranean re- and Figure 35 in the appendix. gion and caused intense precipitation at the Balkan Peninsula. At the same time, a large low-pressure sys- Meteorological situation tem was located over Scandinavia and caused high precipitation totals in Great Britain and Ireland as well by EFAS Meteorological Data Collection Centre as in southern Norway. In addition, another low-pres- sure system intensified as it moved from Greenland via December 2019 Iceland to the region between Norway and Greenland The meteorological situation in December 2019 was and caused intense precipitation in Portugal, Spain and characterised by a lower than normal monthly mean France. Then again, yet another low-pressure system surface pressure centred in the northern parts and ex- moved from Greenland to Great Britain and Ireland tending over the majority of the EFAS domain and caused the formation of a low-pressure system reflecting the recurring occurrence of low-pressure over the Adriatic Sea with intense precipitation at the systems, whereas it was higher than normal in the eastern coast. western African parts of the EFAS domain. Monthly precipitation totals were below normal mainly in the A cold air advance at the eastern Atlantic was related eastern and southern parts as well as in the northwest to the low-pressure system over Great Britain and Ire- and centre of the EFAS domain. The highest positive land and initiated the development of a low-pressure monthly precipitation anomalies were observed system over northern Africa, which later caused in- around the Mediterranean region. Monthly mean air tense precipitation in the central Mediterranean temperatures were above normal over the whole EFAS region. This was followed by a low-pressure system domain except for Iceland. which moved from Newfoundland to the region west- ward of Great Britain and Ireland and caused intense At the beginning of December, three low-pressure sys- precipitation at the Iberian Peninsula. Within the next tems were active in the EFAS-domain: one located over days, a low-pressure system formed over the Gulf of the north-western parts of the Iberian Peninsula, one Lyon and moved eastward causing heavy precipitation over the Black Sea and the third north of Scandinavia. in southern France, northern Italy and Croatia. In the A high-pressure system was located over central and days until the end of December, the eastern Mediter- southeast Europe while another high-pressure system ranean region was influenced by low-pressure systems was located over the Atlantic Ocean. The low-pressure causing heavy precipitation especially at the coastal re- system over the Black Sea caused intense precipitation gions. The remaining EFAS domain was influenced by eastward and southward of the Black Sea with the high-pressure systems or weak pressure gradients, ex- highest daily totals at the south-eastern coast. It was cept for Scandinavia in the last three days of the replaced by the eastward moving high-pressure sys- month. tem, located before over southeast Europe. The low- pressure system north of Scandinavia moved slowly In December 2019, the highest precipitation totals eastward and other low-pressure systems over the At- were observed in the northwest of the Iberian Penin- lantic influenced this region, therefore many days with sula, the Mediterranean east coast as well as the precipitation occurred at the Scandinavian west coast. Scandinavian west coast (Figure 18). No or only very lit- The low-pressure system at the Iberian Peninsula tle precipitation fell in parts of northern Africa and 3 EUROPEAN FLOOD AWARENESS SYSTEM: Bimonthly Bulletin – Issue 2020(1) around the Caspian Sea. More than normal precipita- brought moderate precipitation amounts along its tion was observed in many parts of southwest and track. Yet another low-pressure system moved from northeast Europe and the eastern Mediterranean re- the Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Great Britain gion (Figure 19). Less than normal precipitation fell in and Ireland towards the Norwegian Sea and caused Iceland, central Europe, westward and eastward of the strong winds in Great Britain and Ireland as well as in Black Sea, the western parts of northern Africa and the Iceland. southeast part of the EFAS domain. A secondary low-pressure system developed at the The monthly mean air temperature ranged from – western ridge and moved on a similar, slightly south- 20.7°C to 21.3°C with the highest values in the south- ward shifted, track, and caused again strong winds in ern parts and lowest in the northern and mountainous Great Britain and Ireland, whereas Eastern Europe was parts of the EFAS domain (Figure 22). Air temperature influenced by a high-pressure system. One more low- anomalies ranged from -3.7°C to 8.4°C (Figure 23). pressure system developed at the Atlantic Ocean and Monthly mean air temperature values were above the moved towards the Iberian Peninsula and the Azores long-term mean in the majority of the EFAS domain high extended northward at its back and developed a and only in Iceland below the long-term mean. new core at Great Britain and Ireland. The low-pres- sure system stayed for some time at the Strait of January 2020 Gibraltar and later moved to the northwest towards The meteorological situation in January 2020 was char- the Atlantic Ocean. It brought a lot of precipitation at acterized by higher than normal monthly mean surface the Iberian Peninsula including heavy precipitation pressure in the south and centre of the EFAS domain with associated floods in southeast Spain, southern and lower than normal mean surface pressure in the France and the Baleares.
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