The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts

Autores
Vicencio, José; Rondanelli, Roberto; Campos, Diego; Valenzuela, Raúl; Garreaud, René; Reyes, Alejandra; Padilla, Rodrigo; Abarca, Ricardo; Barahona, Camilo; Delgado, Rodrigo; Nicora, Maria Gabriela
Año de publicación
2021
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
In late May 2019, at least seven tornadoes were reported within a 24-h period in southern Chile (western South America, 36°–38°S), including EF1 and EF2 events causing substantial damage to infrastructure, dozens of injuries, and one fatality. Despite anecdotal evidence and chronicles of similar historical events, the threat from tornadoes in Chile was regarded with skepticism until the 2019 outbreak. Herein, we describe the synoptic-scale features instrumental in the development of these tornadic storms, including an extended southwest–northeast trough along the South Pacific, with a large postfrontal instability area. Tornadic storms appear to be embedded in a modestly unstable environment (positive convective available potential energy but less than 1,000 J kg−1) and strong low- and midlevel wind shear, with high near-surface storm-relative helicity values (close to −200 m2 s−2), clearly differing from the Great Plains tornadoes in North America (with highly unstable environments) but resembling cold-season tornadoes previously observed in the midlatitudes of North America, Australia, and Europe. Reanalyzing rainfall and lightning data from the last 10 years, we found that tornadic storms in our region occur associated with locally extreme values of both CAPE and low-level wind shear, where a combination of the two in a low-level vorticity generation parameter appears as a simple first-order discriminant between tornadic and nontornadic environments. Future research should thoroughly examine historical events worldwide to assemble a database of high-shear, low-CAPE midlatitude storms and help improve our understanding of these storms’ underlying physics.
Fil: Vicencio, José. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Rondanelli, Roberto. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile
Fil: Campos, Diego. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chile
Fil: Valenzuela, Raúl. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile. Universidad de O’Higgins; Chile
Fil: Garreaud, René. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile
Fil: Reyes, Alejandra. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Padilla, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Abarca, Ricardo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Barahona, Camilo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Delgado, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Nicora, Maria Gabriela. Instituto Franco-argentino Sobre Estudios del Clima y Sus Impactos.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentina
Materia
tornado
Synoptic,
mesoscale
lightning
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/143890
Acceder
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oai_identifier_str oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/143890
network_acronym_str CONICETDig
repository_id_str 3498
network_name_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
spelling The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contextsVicencio, JoséRondanelli, RobertoCampos, DiegoValenzuela, RaúlGarreaud, RenéReyes, AlejandraPadilla, RodrigoAbarca, RicardoBarahona, CamiloDelgado, RodrigoNicora, Maria GabrielatornadoSynoptic,mesoscalelightninghttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1In late May 2019, at least seven tornadoes were reported within a 24-h period in southern Chile (western South America, 36°–38°S), including EF1 and EF2 events causing substantial damage to infrastructure, dozens of injuries, and one fatality. Despite anecdotal evidence and chronicles of similar historical events, the threat from tornadoes in Chile was regarded with skepticism until the 2019 outbreak. Herein, we describe the synoptic-scale features instrumental in the development of these tornadic storms, including an extended southwest–northeast trough along the South Pacific, with a large postfrontal instability area. Tornadic storms appear to be embedded in a modestly unstable environment (positive convective available potential energy but less than 1,000 J kg−1) and strong low- and midlevel wind shear, with high near-surface storm-relative helicity values (close to −200 m2 s−2), clearly differing from the Great Plains tornadoes in North America (with highly unstable environments) but resembling cold-season tornadoes previously observed in the midlatitudes of North America, Australia, and Europe. Reanalyzing rainfall and lightning data from the last 10 years, we found that tornadic storms in our region occur associated with locally extreme values of both CAPE and low-level wind shear, where a combination of the two in a low-level vorticity generation parameter appears as a simple first-order discriminant between tornadic and nontornadic environments. Future research should thoroughly examine historical events worldwide to assemble a database of high-shear, low-CAPE midlatitude storms and help improve our understanding of these storms’ underlying physics.Fil: Vicencio, José. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Rondanelli, Roberto. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; ChileFil: Campos, Diego. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Valenzuela, Raúl. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile. Universidad de O’Higgins; ChileFil: Garreaud, René. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; ChileFil: Reyes, Alejandra. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Padilla, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Abarca, Ricardo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Barahona, Camilo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Delgado, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; ChileFil: Nicora, Maria Gabriela. Instituto Franco-argentino Sobre Estudios del Clima y Sus Impactos.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; ArgentinaAmer Meteorological Soc2021-03-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/143890Vicencio, José; Rondanelli, Roberto; Campos, Diego; Valenzuela, Raúl; Garreaud, René; et al.; The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts; Amer Meteorological Soc; Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society; 102; 3; 1-3-2021; E611-E6340003-0007CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-19-0218.1/BAMS-D-19-0218.1.xmlinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0218.1info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-10-15T15:18:42Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/143890instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-10-15 15:18:42.458CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
title The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
spellingShingle The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
Vicencio, José
tornado
Synoptic,
mesoscale
lightning
title_short The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
title_full The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
title_fullStr The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
title_full_unstemmed The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
title_sort The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Vicencio, José
Rondanelli, Roberto
Campos, Diego
Valenzuela, Raúl
Garreaud, René
Reyes, Alejandra
Padilla, Rodrigo
Abarca, Ricardo
Barahona, Camilo
Delgado, Rodrigo
Nicora, Maria Gabriela
author Vicencio, José
author_facet Vicencio, José
Rondanelli, Roberto
Campos, Diego
Valenzuela, Raúl
Garreaud, René
Reyes, Alejandra
Padilla, Rodrigo
Abarca, Ricardo
Barahona, Camilo
Delgado, Rodrigo
Nicora, Maria Gabriela
author_role author
author2 Rondanelli, Roberto
Campos, Diego
Valenzuela, Raúl
Garreaud, René
Reyes, Alejandra
Padilla, Rodrigo
Abarca, Ricardo
Barahona, Camilo
Delgado, Rodrigo
Nicora, Maria Gabriela
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv tornado
Synoptic,
mesoscale
lightning
topic tornado
Synoptic,
mesoscale
lightning
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv In late May 2019, at least seven tornadoes were reported within a 24-h period in southern Chile (western South America, 36°–38°S), including EF1 and EF2 events causing substantial damage to infrastructure, dozens of injuries, and one fatality. Despite anecdotal evidence and chronicles of similar historical events, the threat from tornadoes in Chile was regarded with skepticism until the 2019 outbreak. Herein, we describe the synoptic-scale features instrumental in the development of these tornadic storms, including an extended southwest–northeast trough along the South Pacific, with a large postfrontal instability area. Tornadic storms appear to be embedded in a modestly unstable environment (positive convective available potential energy but less than 1,000 J kg−1) and strong low- and midlevel wind shear, with high near-surface storm-relative helicity values (close to −200 m2 s−2), clearly differing from the Great Plains tornadoes in North America (with highly unstable environments) but resembling cold-season tornadoes previously observed in the midlatitudes of North America, Australia, and Europe. Reanalyzing rainfall and lightning data from the last 10 years, we found that tornadic storms in our region occur associated with locally extreme values of both CAPE and low-level wind shear, where a combination of the two in a low-level vorticity generation parameter appears as a simple first-order discriminant between tornadic and nontornadic environments. Future research should thoroughly examine historical events worldwide to assemble a database of high-shear, low-CAPE midlatitude storms and help improve our understanding of these storms’ underlying physics.
Fil: Vicencio, José. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Rondanelli, Roberto. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile
Fil: Campos, Diego. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chile
Fil: Valenzuela, Raúl. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile. Universidad de O’Higgins; Chile
Fil: Garreaud, René. Center for Climate and Resilience Research; Chile
Fil: Reyes, Alejandra. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Padilla, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Abarca, Ricardo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Barahona, Camilo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Delgado, Rodrigo. Dirección Meteorológica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Nicora, Maria Gabriela. Instituto Franco-argentino Sobre Estudios del Clima y Sus Impactos.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentina
description In late May 2019, at least seven tornadoes were reported within a 24-h period in southern Chile (western South America, 36°–38°S), including EF1 and EF2 events causing substantial damage to infrastructure, dozens of injuries, and one fatality. Despite anecdotal evidence and chronicles of similar historical events, the threat from tornadoes in Chile was regarded with skepticism until the 2019 outbreak. Herein, we describe the synoptic-scale features instrumental in the development of these tornadic storms, including an extended southwest–northeast trough along the South Pacific, with a large postfrontal instability area. Tornadic storms appear to be embedded in a modestly unstable environment (positive convective available potential energy but less than 1,000 J kg−1) and strong low- and midlevel wind shear, with high near-surface storm-relative helicity values (close to −200 m2 s−2), clearly differing from the Great Plains tornadoes in North America (with highly unstable environments) but resembling cold-season tornadoes previously observed in the midlatitudes of North America, Australia, and Europe. Reanalyzing rainfall and lightning data from the last 10 years, we found that tornadic storms in our region occur associated with locally extreme values of both CAPE and low-level wind shear, where a combination of the two in a low-level vorticity generation parameter appears as a simple first-order discriminant between tornadic and nontornadic environments. Future research should thoroughly examine historical events worldwide to assemble a database of high-shear, low-CAPE midlatitude storms and help improve our understanding of these storms’ underlying physics.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021-03-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/143890
Vicencio, José; Rondanelli, Roberto; Campos, Diego; Valenzuela, Raúl; Garreaud, René; et al.; The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts; Amer Meteorological Soc; Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society; 102; 3; 1-3-2021; E611-E634
0003-0007
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/143890
identifier_str_mv Vicencio, José; Rondanelli, Roberto; Campos, Diego; Valenzuela, Raúl; Garreaud, René; et al.; The chilean tornado outbreak of may 2019: Synoptic, mesoscale, and historical contexts; Amer Meteorological Soc; Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society; 102; 3; 1-3-2021; E611-E634
0003-0007
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-19-0218.1/BAMS-D-19-0218.1.xml
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0218.1
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Amer Meteorological Soc
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Amer Meteorological Soc
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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score 13.22299

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