A very large high pressure is present in southern Europe – © RTBF
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Storm Dennis is blowing over Belgium and causing damage this Sunday, one week day for day after storm Ciara whose gusts up to 120 km / h also caused roofs to fly away and trees and electricity pylons to fall. Between the two, the storm Ines blew not far from our home and especially damaged in France. How to explain these consecutive storms?
A boulevard without obstacle for the wind
Winter storms like the ones we know are normal this season. What is surprising is their proximity over time. The explanation is found in the south of Europe where a very large high pressure is present for the moment (over the south of France, the north of Italy, Croatia, …). It forms a kind of barrier for disturbances and depressions from the Atlantic. They do not descend to the South and continue their journey above our home. “Currently, no high pressure zone prevents these depressions and disturbances from arriving at our place explains Stéphane Piedboeuf, weather presenter at RTBF. So there is a barrier-free boulevard for all these bad weather areas, without any obstacle to block them. “
Result, these disturbances have a royal road on our regions and follow a trajectory which passes over the United Kingdom, Belgium and France.
Abnormally high temperatures
Another explanation for these successive storms is to look for on the side of the thermometer. Temperatures are well above seasonal norms at the moment. Up to 10 ° more than usual in Belgium. “Since there is fresh air in our regions, when cold air descends from the pole meets this mass of fresh air, there is a conflict of air mass. And the greater the temperature difference between these two air masses, the faster the air will circulate. In other words, the more wind we have ” explains Stéphane Piedboeuf.
If it was colder in our regions as it should be in winter, the temperature difference would be less, there would be less wind.
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