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Saturday,
October 31, 2020,
12:00 CET




Windstorm
France, Great Britain
October 23-25, 2020


Windstorm LUCY
October 23, 15 UTC
Wokingham

Shortly after the storm lows IMKA and JADRANKA, storm low LUCY reached Europe and Great Britain on October 23 and 24. LUCY swept over Great Britain with wind speeds of 169 km/h (Cairngorn UK). In France 128 km/h (Barfleur Point and Pointe du Raz) were registered.




Weather Situation

Stormy low LUCY developed at the front of an initially flat trough. However, the amplitude of the trough increased rapidly and reached as far as Spain and Portugal on 25 October. LUCY remained at the front of the trough until October 24th and then gradually moved to the middle and finally to the back of the trough, causing it to weaken rapidly. Its core did not reach Europe, Ireland or Great Britain.

Sea level pressure and fronts, October 23-24, 2020: FU-Berlin and DWD
500 hPa Geopotential, October 23-24, 2020: Wetter3


Development

Stormy low LUCY developed on October 22nd near Newfoundland in the frontal zone in the middle of two jet streams. The jet streams intensified and LUCY remained in the area of strongest divergence. As a result it began to intensify as well. In the temperature field it was also already visible as wave disturbance and via the equivalent potential temperature. In the night of Friday 23 October, LUCY moved rapidly eastward across the Atlantic, always in the range of high positive divergence values. By Friday morning the core pressure dropped to below 985 hPa. The amplitude of the temperature wave increased and the fronts were more and more clearly visible via the equivalent potential temperature. During the night of Saturday 24 October, its wind field reached Ireland and the UK, and in the afternoon it reached Spain and France. LUCY's core itself did not reach the mainland and moved northwest past Ireland, staying almost stationary over the North Atlantic. It was not until the night of Sunday that LUCY began to weaken or its core pressure began to rise as the influence of the jet stream weakened and it was no longer in front of the trough. Thus her wind field weakened, which was mainly caused by the strong isobaric pressure on her southern flank.

Satellite images (IR), October 24, Source: Wokingham
Satellite images (WV), October 23-24, Source: Wokingham


LUCY reached its lowest core pressure of 950 hPa on October 24 at 00 UTC. LUCY also underwent rapid cyclogenesis due to its favorable location in relation to the jet streams. On 22 October at 18 UTC, its core pressure was 1002 hPa and fell to 960 hPa in 24 hours, a drop of more than 40 hPa. The rapid intensification was probably also a consequence of dry indrusion. She is also a fast runner, as she covered more than 1000 km in 24 hours. On the satellite images, especially its frontal system was impressive, as well as a Dry Indrusion and the Dry Slot near the low-pressure core.



Text: MG
October 31, 2020


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