19 August 2011
Supercell Thunderstorm East of Brussels Kills 4
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Image from SEVERI (Eumetsat) at 18GMT (8 PM Euro summer time). The combination of two visible channels and one IR channel gives the bluish tint to the clouds.
The red arrow is pointing at the overshooting top on the thunderstorm, indicating a very strong updraft. The BBC says 4 were killed when a stage collapsed at a music festival. Surface weather obs (from just before the storm developed) indicated temps near 27℃ (80℉) and dew-points near 18℃ (64℉). A surface front was moving into Belgium as a strong upper level trough pushed through the UK, and this set the stage for severe storms in a place that sees few of them.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
[…] the size of tennis balls blasted the concert site east of Brussels. Meteorologist Dan Satterfield discovered satellite imagery showing the storm had an overshooting top, indicative of extreme instability. In Hasselt, the […]