Innsbruck, 30. June 2007
Abstract On Thursday, 18. January 2007, a strong Ex-North Atlantic low-pressure system runned over Western and Central Europe, doing widespread damage. Kyrill caused in exceed of 40 fatalities, thereof 13 in Germany. For the first time, the German Railway "Deutsche Bahn" had to shut down its rail traffic anywhere in Germany. Due to excellent model runs, already forecasting the low-pressure system almost unanimously seven days ahead of the arrival, early severe storm warnings could be issued from the German Weather Service ("Deutscher Wetterdienst") and "Meteomedia". Hence, the number of fatalities has been relatively small compared to the strength of the weather event. However, windstorm led to significant damage in in the cities, the Ruhr in particular, but also in Berlin where the glas front of the recently constructed main station was threaten to collapse.
The low-pressure system did a lot of harm to the forests, especially in Germany where about 20 millionsolid cubic metres of wood fell victim to the storm. Most of damage could be observed in North-Rhine Westphalia and Saxony. Flat country saw widespread windspeed exceeding hurricane force, 146km/h observed in Berlin, 144km/h in Düsseldorf. The mountain stations overcame the threshold of 200km/h : Wendelstein (1832m) 202km/h (D) , Feuerkogel (1592m) 207 km/h (A) and Konkordiahütte 224km/h (CH).
It has been the first intense low-pressure system since 28. October 2002 ("Jeanett") affecting total Germany with hurricane force winds. Though the widespread maximum gusts had been lower opposed to windstorm "Lothar" (Christmas 1999), the entire duration of Kyrill was much longer.
In this article, I would like to pointing out extensively the synoptic development of the low-pressure system coming from Newfoundland up to its dissolution over Eastern Europe. I took most of the used reanalysis charts from wetter3.de. Then, the visual development of Kyrill is discussed by satellite imagery, additionally soundings, sferic charts and special forecast charts concerning severe convective storms. Finally, high-resolution radar imagery ought to illustrate the propagation of the cold front.
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