Berlin, August 1, 2017: Spectacular Evening Sky

On August 1 again a hot air mass met a cold air mass over Germany. Subsequently, there was an air mass limit. Air mass limits are often the reason for severe weather events like extreme thunderstorms with tornados and flooding or downbursts.

(A good definition what an air mass is could be found at the UK met office:http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/how-weather-works/air-masses.)

Severe storms were expected, the weather service also issued a warning for Berlin. In the afternoon and evening, a line of thunderstorms appeared. There was severe weather in Brandenburg and many other areas. However in Berlin after a short time of rain, the turbulent sky opened a bit and a red evening sun was illuminating the dramatically structured clouds.




Many people stopped and took pictures of the unusual weather situation. Of course, evening-glow happens a lot but this dramatic sky was extraordinary. One reason for this impressive sky is that if you have a weather situation with thunderstorms close or developing there is a chaos in the atmosphere. There are several levels in the lower and higher atmosphere with different clouds and there is a lot of circulation.

 

The impressive scenery lasted till it became dark. There was only a little wind and it was still very warm in the city during the night. Some sheet-lighting could be seen later but the bigger storms happened more in the South.

It was a relief after two severe storms with extraordinary flooding hit the city two times before.

But summer 2017 is very unpredictable in Europe. Two days later a very strong cell did damage in the South of Berlin and later in August Austria suffered from storms with heavy rain followed by mud-slides.

On the south-side of the Alps in Italy there are still heat-waves. As mentioned before these weather-patterns fit in the scenarios developed by scientists about effects of climate change.

 

There is a good-viewpoint between railway station “Gesundbrunnen” in Berlin and the well-known Bornholmer Straße. The pictures below were taken from a small bridge named “Schwedter Steig”. I had seen that bridge a couple of times when using the train. Its always useful particularly if you want to do weather-pictures to have an inventory of good view-points before, since if an interesting weather pattern occurs there is no time to search for a good place with a lot of open skies to take pictures or videos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dangerous Storm – Berlin And Brandenburg, Germany, March 17, 2017

On Saturday, March 18, an unexpected storm hit the capital Berlin and Brandenburg. The wind freshed up after noon and lasted till afternoon. A wind gust with 100 km/h was registered. The Fire starters got over 300 calls. Damage in the city was limited but in the surrounding Brandenburg the storm caused a tragic event when one person was killed in a car which was hit by a fallen tree. In Potsdam an advertising sign was flying around and did hurt three people.   The storm called “Eckhard” emerged on the southern side of another storm system in Northern Europe. It proved that storms are still difficult to predict. In this case the storm warning occured not before the storm had already hit. But most of the time the weather service warns one or two days before  a storm does happen. Storms often occur in weather-models a couple of days before. Nevertheless the challenge is to exactly predict the path of a coming storm. Furthermore the strength of a storm could differ from the estimated strength. And – as in the case of Eckhard – there are surprises. Storms are a very typical weather pattern in February/March in Middle/Northern Europe. It is the time between winter and spring and there are big differences between cold air in the North and warm air in the South. Some storms during this time could be really destructive and can destroy whole forests. In this case the storm ripped off branches of trees (picture above) and felled trees. The S-Bahn in Berlin was interrupted for hours. Storms with a maximum of 9 or 10 Beaufort also create bigger waves on the havel-lakes like lake Wannsee on the westside of Berlin. These winds are also a problem for sailors or row-boats because the waves are unpredictable. In the late afternoon of Saturday typcial storm clouds could be seen. In the evening the sky was clear again. The next day it rained and it became significantly warmer. March was so far too warm in many areas, even there was still snow in the mountains and skiing was possible.      

SHEET LIGHTNING: VIDEO BERLIN, AUGUST 28, 2016

Summer 2016 in Middle Europe: another year with new temperature records. August 28 was an extremely hot day in Berlin with temperatures over 34 C. Already the day before there had been some severe thunderstorms in Western Germany. A cold front was coming in from the west and in the afternoon the German Weather Service issued a warning for severe weather with strong wind gusts, thunderstorms and hail for Berlin and Brandenburg. However following nowcasts as provided by from some webpages showed that weather was very unpredictable that Sunday in Eastern Germany. It looked a couple of times as there were stronger thunderstorms taking course towards the East, then they lost their energy but in the evening some stronger storms appeared suddenly. Before the front arrived in Berlin the air became really hot and humid. It was sticky and the sky became overcast. In the south of Brandenburg there was already a strong thunderstorm. It was the typical scenario when you expect the worst. You could feel the tension.

Nevertheless there wasn’t a strong hit in Berlin, but a visually impressing storm system in the East of the City which generated sheet-lightning in the West. It was already nearly dark when that storm approached. Later, in the west side of the city there was only rainfall for some minutes. In other parts of Germany there were serious damages due to the collision between warm and cold air. There was a rotating supercell causing flooding in Hamburg and another storm did damage for example in Stendal. Lightning stopped trains in Hannover. The next day temperatures had dropped dramatically. In some places there was a temperature fall of 15 degrees. It was a release after these unusual hot days end of August. The learning lesson was that precise now-casts are still a difficult thing to do when there is chaos in the atmosphere, but should definitely further developed and made more popular since they could be a life-saving tool. Furthermore the trend of climate change related extremes continues in 2016. Adaption strategies seem mandatory for example for farming which suffered both from flooding and too much heat and droughts in other areas. It would be also worth to further investigate the connections between extreme weather and traffic accidents. Perhaps it’s a coincidence but there had been some accidents already before the thunderstorms arrived that day. Maybe the tension in the air, the humidity and the heat strongly affects the concentration of drivers. The situation in Berlin was worth for a little experiment with slow motion and an editing which created an effect similar to a time-lapse on the other side. Together with cross-dissolve transitions the video has perhaps a bit of a supernatural air:

Thunderstorm, Berlin 28. August 2016 from Peter Engelmann on Vimeo.

Aftermath of a severe storm in Chorin-Forest, Brandenburg / Extreme Sturmfolgen in einem Wald bei Chorin

The severe thunderstorm which was reported in the post from August 20 left an incredible path of destruction near the Chorin cloister in Brandenburg. The pathway, which is used often by hikers and which leads to the village Brodowin was closed for some time.  The amazing thing is that the Chorin forest is a very natural forest with many old trees and there were no signs of weakness before. There must have been tremendous forces at work on August 20, 2012. The images show how serious we should take severe storm warnings:   Ein extremes Gewitter nördlich von Berlin, über das im post vom 20. August berichtet wurde, hat in einem Wald in der Nähe des Kloster Chorin, 80 km nordöstlich von Berlin, unglaubliche Schäden hinterlassen. Der beliebte Wanderweg musste geschlossen werden. Das Überraschende an diesen Zerstörungen ist, dass hier ein sehr natürlicher Wald mit alten Bäumen, die keine erkennbaren Schwächen hatten,  derart zerstört wurde. Es müssen unglaubliche Kräfte an diesem 20. August am Werk gewesen sein. Die Bilder dokumentieren, wie ernst wir Sturmwarnungen nehmen sollten.     Trees intermingled, a whole forest turned upside down: What kind of force could have done this? August 19, 2012 was already one of the hottest days of the year in the Berlin-Brandenburg area and in Germany. Monday got even hotter and air was increasingly humid. Showers and thunderstorms were predicted by weather forecasters for monday evening. “Xenia” a depression over middle Europe transported the warm, humid air. The severe storm around Chorin and Eberswalde however began already in the afternoon. The whole capacity of the firebrigade in the area was needed and had to repair a lot of damage with special equipment. However the extreme destruction as seen in the Chorin Forest was restricted to a small path. Experts suspect that a tornado did these damages.     Ineinander gewickelte Bäume, ein Anblick, der Fragen lässt, was für eine Kraft hier am Werk war: das Chaos machte den Wald zu einem gefährlichen Platz. Bereits der 19. August war in Berlin Brandenburg einer der heißesten Tage ebenso wie in Deutschland. Hitze und Freuchtigkeit steigerten sich noch am Montag. Schauer und Gewitter waren für den Abend vorhergesagt. Tief Xenia über Mitteleuropa schaufelte die feuchte und heiße Luft in diese Breiten.  Das Unwetter über Chorin und Eberswalde nahm jedoch bereits am Nachmittag seinen Anfang. Die gesamten verfügbaren Kräfte der Feuerwehren waren mit speziellen Gerät an diesem Tag im Einsatz um die zahlreichen Unwetterschäden zu beseitigen. Jedoch war die extreme Zerstörung im Choriner Wald in  einem scharf begrenzten Raum geschehen. Experten vermuten einen Tornado. There were reports from a village near the Werbellinsee, Althüttendorf, about severe storm damage which support the theory of a tornado. Mostly the real apocalyptic impressions and the way trees were knocked down gives the theory of a tornado some credibility. Furthermore it is interesting that the most damage occurred on top of the hills near the cloister, which is called the “Choriner Endmoränenbogen” due to its origin from the ice-age. Obviously any kind of structure on the ground could influence developments in the lower atmosphere.

 

Aus Althüttendorf, einem Dorf in der Nähe des bekannten Werbellinsees sind von diesem Tag Sturmschäden gemeldet worden, die die Theorie eines Tornados stützen. Hauptsächlich sind es aber die geradezu apokalyptischen Eindrücke und die Art und Weise wie die Bäume zu Boden gedrückt wurden, die auf einen Tornado hindeuten. Darüber hinaus ist es interessant, dass die meisten Schäden auf der Anhöhe des Choriner Endmoränenbogens in der Nähe des Klosters zu sehen sind, einer in der letzten Eiszeit entstandenen Erhebung. Offenbar wirkt sich jede Art von strukturiertem Untergrund auf das Geschehen in der unteren Atmosphäre aus.