Recommended citation: Coll-Hidalgo, P.; Pérez-Alarcón, A.; Nieto, R. (2023). Where does the precipitation moisture for the Medicane Qendresa come from? 2nd MedCyclones Workshop & 9th European Storm Workshop. Toulouse, France, 28-30 June 2023. https://meteo.fr/cic/meetings/2023/medcyclones-europeanstorms/mcesw_abstracts_ps2.pdf

Abstract

The hybrid cyclones formed over the Mediterranean Sea, known as Mediterranean hurricanes (medicanes) or tropical-like cyclones (TLCs), are responsible for hazardous consequences in this region. Remote sources for the precipitation of medicanes are a open question in the medcyclones field. This work aims to asses the origin of the precipitation produced by TLCs through a Lagrangian approach based on the analysis of moisture sources for the TLC Qendresa from 6 to 9 November 2014. We used the global outputs of the FLEXPART model fed by the ERA-5 reanalysis for backtracked the pathways of precipitating particles within the outer radius of the storm up to 10 days. We pinpointed the overall large-scale conditions for the genesis of Qendresa. We found that the moist air parcels described trajectories bordering the extension through the mid-troposphere linked to a branch of a polar jet stream over southwestern Europe. In addition , we amassed the total contribution from moisture sources. In this direction, we highlighted that the atmospheric humidity mainly came from local sources, and the contributions from oceanic (terrestrial) origin represented 62% (38%) of the total moisture gained by the storm. Future studies will focus on a climatological analysis of the origin of rainfall produced by these hybrid cyclones.