Mysterious gusts of wind were seen or felt in Sète and at Pic Saint-Loup during the Mediterranean episode which hit Hérault this Saturday, September 16, 2023. How does such a meteorological phenomenon form? We take stock.
The images are impressive, as are the damages. Gusts of wind, storms, rain and floods: as Météo France announced, Hérault was not spared from bad weather this weekend.
In Sète, a huge, very punctual and localized gust of wind, a “mini tornado” as local residents called it on Saturday, took over the Pont-Levis district during the night of Friday to Saturday, September 16, 2023. Since then, the residents whose houses were affected have been trying to repair the material damage.
At Pic Saint-Loup, videos are published on social networks, in which we observe two whirlwinds of wind which curl in the sky like tornadoes.
But what are these meteorological phenomena? Can we really talk about tornadoes or mini-tornadoes?
In the publication of the video published on “tubas” is mentioned to talk about these “mini-tornadoes” seen in Valfaunès.
Indeed, this is the term used to describe the swirls visible in the video: a snorkel is the beginning of a tornado at the beginning of its formation before it hits the ground.
In Sète, it seems that the phenomenon studied is quite similar, even if the conditions are different, “we will speak of a waterspout or waterspout when it is on the sea”, specifies Alix Roumagnac, weather forecaster from the company Prédict de Montpellier.
“It is not impossible that we were dealing with tornadoes in Sète and Pic Saint-Loup, especially since there were storms with swirling systems,” Alix Roumagnac advances cautiously.
However, in Sète in particular, no visual observation of the phenomenon could be made, which prevents it from being clearly characterized.
We sometimes talk about a mini-tornado but it is not a scientific term.
Alix Roumagnac – weather forecaster for Prédict company in Montpellier
At the moment, no confirmation has been given.
These phenomena develop in the presence of two criteria:
Convection: a very large difference in air temperature between the ground and at altitude Shear: a very large difference in wind strength and currents between the ground and at altitude
However, “to gain power and become a tornado, the terrain must be flat”explains Alix Roumagnac.
This type of very localized phenomenon with occasional consequences is rather rare but according to the weather forecaster “in recent years it has become recurrent when we have somewhat violent weather episodes”.
Especially since these whirlwinds of wind are “very difficult to predict because they are very localized and their impact is very reduced”, concludes Alix Roumagnac.
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