High impact storms affecting the Iberian Peninsula during 2017-2019 extended winters

The occurrence of an increasing number of high impact storms over southwestern Europe (e.g. Klaus, 23-24 January 2009 and Xynthia, 27-28 February 2010; Liberato et al. 2011; 2013) has led to the meteorological services of France (Météo-France), Portugal (IPMA) and Spain (AEMET) to assign names to storms, since 1st December 2017. This new list of named storms has the main objective to better inform the general public and media while contributing to increasing public awareness to high impact storms and associated warnings and timely safety recommendations. The Institute of Meteorology of the Freie Universität Berlin has named all pressure systems in Central Europe since 1954; since 1998, lows are given male names and highs are given female names in odd years, and vice versa in even years. This new list built by the southwestern Europe meteorological services has the main difference of naming only high impact storms.In this study an analysis of the extreme storms affecting the Iberian Peninsula during the 2017-2019 extended winters is performed. From nine named high impact storms during the 2017-2018 season, seven of them affected the Iberian Peninsula region; and from the thirteen high impact storms during 2018-2019 winter, ten of them affected the region. Firstly an assessment of the strong winds, heavy precipitation and socio-economic impacts is presented. Secondly, a characterization of the synoptic conditions and associated extratropical cyclones is performed. Finally, the events are ranked and classified into the groups previously defined on Karremann et al. (2016) and a variability assessment is made in order to understand how their magnitude and frequency of occurrence fits the identified multi-decadal variability.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge the financial support by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (FCT), through projects PTDC/CTA-MET/29233/2017 and UIDB/50019/2020 – IDL. A.M. Ramos is supported by Scientific Employment Stimulus 2017 from FCT (CEECIND/00027/2017).ReferencesKarremann et al. (2016) Atmos. Sci. Let., 17: 354-361 DOI: 10.1002/asl.665Liberato et al. (2011) Weather, 66: 330-334 DOI: 10.1002/wea.755Liberato et al. (2013) Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13: 2239-2251 DOI: 10.5194/nhess-13-2239-2013