The powerful storm that ripped into Libya days ago touching off floods that killed thousands is being called a rare “medicane.”
(Bloomberg) — The powerful storm that ripped into Libya days ago touching off floods that killed thousands is being called a rare “medicane.”
The weather systems — with a name that’s an amalgamation of Mediterranean and hurricane — are smaller than large Atlantic storms but can strike with Category 1 force on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, bringing winds greater than 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour and flooding rains, according to the World Meteorological Organization, an arm of the United Nations.
Like hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones, medicanes can develop an eye or clear patch at their core, and whip up strong fields of winds and thunderstorms, along with bringing torrential rain, the WMO said.
Read More: Death Toll From Devastating Libya Storm Rises Past 2,000
Typically they are about 400 kilometers in diameter — smaller than Hurricane Lee, currently in the Atlantic, for example. The WMO said September to January is usually when most form and while the majority aren’t named, the storm that hit Libya had been called Daniel by meteorological agencies.
The Mediterranean isn’t expansive enough or warm enough to sustain a true hurricane, said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections. If the storms occurred in the Atlantic, they would be classified as subtropical storms and likely given a name by the US National Hurricane Center.
While there isn’t a standard criteria of what a medicane is, meteorologists are working to have a more uniform definition.
Storm Daniel had already struck Greece on Sept. 5-6. It slammed into Libya on Sunday with winds of 70-80 kilometers per hour (43-50 mph), or the strength of a tropical storm, causing floods that killed at least 2,000 people in a single city and left more than 10,000 missing.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.