The increase in temperatures of the Mediterranean Sea and the widespread urbanization of the flood-prone areas of the Valencian Community explain the magnitude of the catastrophe that left nearly a hundred dead, on Tuesday, October 29 and Wednesday, October 30, after an episode of “Cold fall” in the southeast of Spain, according to Antonio Aretxabala, doctor in geology from the University of Zaragoza and expert in natural disasters.
Torrential rains and flooding are nothing new in the Spanish southeast, but they appear increasingly destructive. So that ?
The temperature of the Mediterranean Sea continues to rise due to global warming. This summer he broke records again. Therefore, the atmosphere is warmer and full of water vapor.
However, when the warm, humid Levantine wind from the Mediterranean encounters a tongue of cold air from the North Pole, as happened on Tuesday, what we call an isolated high-altitude depression (“DANA” in Spanish) ) or “Cold drop”: this causes torrential rains. This is a meteorological phenomenon that is all the more extreme as the air is loaded with millions of tons of water due to rising temperatures; in Valence, for more than eight hours, nearly 500 liters per square meter fell; exceptional intensity. This normally corresponds to a year of rainfall.
France and central Europe have also experienced significant flooding in recent weeks. Are we talking about the same phenomenon?
In all these cases, the warming of the Mediterranean is dynamite. The more temperatures rise, the more water vapor fills the atmosphere. And the smaller the energy difference between the North Pole and the Equator, the more cold air currents tend to separate, wander, undulate, and reach further and further south.
These extreme weather events will continue to increase in frequency and intensity because we are experiencing the real consequences of climate change.
At the same time, the Spanish Mediterranean basin is experiencing a situation of serious and prolonged drought. Is there a link between these two phenomena?
Just as tongues of cold air move further south, warm air masses move further north. With climate change, there are more and more extreme episodes: droughts are longer, rainfall is more violent. It’s a kind of climate chaos and that’s no surprise. Scientists have been sounding the alarm for thirty years.
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