Lufthansa jet narrowly avoids crashing in German windstorm
A Lufthansa Airbus A320 with 137 people on board nearly crashed at the Hamburg, Germany airport on Saturday, March 1, as the pilot struggled to land the airplane during high winds kicked up by winter storm "Emma". If you don't have a fear of flying, take at look at the remarkable video an amateur photographer captured of the landing. It's been uploaded to LiveLeak.com and YouTube. As seen in the still images captured from the video (Figure 1), the pilot attempted to land the aircraft with a strong crosswind blowing from right to left. The crosswind is so strong that the drift angle of the aircraft (the difference between where the nose is pointed and the actual track of the airplane along the runway) is about 20 degrees. As the pilot touches the wheels down, he kicks the rudder to straighten the airplane out, and at that moment, a strong gust of wind lifts up the right wing, pushing the left wingtip of the aircraft into the runway. The pilot is skillful and lucky enough to avoid having the airplane cartwheel down the runway and explode, and aborts the landing attempt. You can see the blast of the engines kick up a cloud of dust on the left side of the runway as he goes to full throttle for a "go around" (thanks to Jeff Weber of UNIDATA for making the correct analysis of this dust cloud). The plane landed safely on its second attempt. Do you think the passengers were praying during that second landing? I do! Only minor damage was done to the left wingtip, and the plane was back in service by the next day.
Figure 1. Still photo of the Lufthansa jet (left) as it approached the runway. Note sharp angle between the direction the airplane's nose is pointed, and the track it is taking along the length of the runway. Strong winds of 40 mph gusting to 63 mph were observed at the airport that afternoon. Right photo: the left wingtip of the jet scrapes the runway as a big gust of wind hits. Image credit: LiveLeak.com.
The weather that led to the near disaster
The initial press reports indicated that a wind gust of 155 mph hit the aircraft as it tried to land. That sounded rather dubious to me, so I took a closer look at the weather conditions that day. The only way a wind gust of that magnitude could have been generated would be from a powerful microburst flowing out from the base of a severe thunderstorm. The world record strongest thunderstorm microburst occurred on August 1, 1983, when winds of 149.5 mph were clocked at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington D.C., just five minutes after President Reagan landed there aboard Air Force 1. So, a 155 mph wind gust is possible, but it would be a new world record.
Figure 2. Visible satellite image from 10:20 GMT Saturday March 1 2008. Winter storm "Emma", a 960 mb low pressure centered north of Hamburg over Norway, has pushed a cold front through Germany. A strong northwest to west-northwest flow of air coming off the North Sea (red arrows) brought sustained winds of 36 mph, gusting to 56 mph, to Hamburg, Germany. Image credit: University of Bern, Switzerland.
Were there severe thunderstorms near Hamburg on March 1 that could have generated such a wind gust? A powerful low pressure system (Emma) with a central pressure of 960 mb passed to the north of Hamburg, Germany that morning, dragging a strong cold front through in the late morning (Figure 2). After cold frontal passage, the wunderground history page for Hamburg at 12:50 GMT, five minutes before the time of the incident, shows sustained winds of 35 mph, gusting to 56 mph. A temporary wind reading of 40 mph, gusting to 63 mph, also occurred. The temperature was about 45°F, with occasional rain. This is classic post-cold front weather, and is not the sort of environment where severe thunderstorms with strong microbursts occur. Later press reports corrected the 155 mph wind gust, reducing it to 56 mph. Apparently, the aircraft's landing speed was 155 mph. In any case, the plane was operating very near to the maximum crosswinds an Airbus A320 is permitted to land in--38 mph, gusting to 44 mph. There are questions whether air traffic control should have used that runway for landings, and whether or not the pilot should have attempted a landing in those conditions. There is an interesting discussion at the LiveATC.net discussion forum where some pilots weight in on the near-disaster.
Winter storm Emma did considerable damage across Germany. Six people died in weather-related automobile accidents, power was cut to 150,000 homes, and high winds ripped the roof off of a school in Hesse. In neighboring countries, 260 buildings lost their roofs in Poland, flooding collapsed a bridge in Romania, and in the Czech Republic, 92,000 people (about 10 percent of the population) lost power.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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I'll tell you one part of the world I don't know squat about is the Indian ocean except for the monsoon season in india. As far as tropical activity, I've never looked into it at all.
AdriansWeatherBlog
Above average sea surface temperatures along the West African Coast due to the weaker Canary current.
Below normal SSTs across much of the Central-Western Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean east of 80W. This is not suprising with increase velocities of the tradewinds that brought below normal temperatures to the region December, Januaury and February.
I cannot explain the reason for above average temperatures of the Gulf and Gulf Stream.
Also notice exceptionally below average temperatures just near the Gulf of Teheantepec. This is no doubt the cause of the many upwelling events there this past winter.
The 2008 cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean has recorded the highest number of cyclones in possibly a decade because of the climate phenomenon called La Niña, according to meteorologists.
"The tropical cyclone Jokwe, which is expected to hit the northern coast of Mozambique on 8 March will be the twelfth this season," said Mussa Mustafa, head of Mozambique's Meteorological Institute (INAM). "We normally record an average of nine cyclones per season."
There is now Tropical Storm 13R out there.
I really want to see falling
Action: | Ignore User
I live a county away from there.Places here get less snow in March and April.Should have came in February.You shouldnt see snow Wednesday.Might rain up there Friday.
It did snow here today though.
... Accumulating snowfall will continue in the North Carolina
mountains today...
... Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 7 PM EST this
evening...
A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 7 PM EST this
evening.
Scattered snow showers will continue across the southern and
central mountains this afternoon. Coverage of the snow showers
will decrease late this afternoon... ending by the early evening.
Higher elevations should to see 1 to 2 inches of snow by the time
precipitation tapers off to flurries late this afternoon. The
mountain valleys may see accumulations range from an inch at
Robbinsville and Bryson City to a few tenths of and inch of snow
at Franklin.
A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow will cause
travel difficulties. Be prepared for slippery roads and limited
visibilities... and use caution while driving.
I cannot explain the reason for above average temperatures of the Gulf and Gulf Stream.
Could that be from the trade winds forcing warm water westwards into the Gulf and thus Gulf Stream (I think stronger trades would mean a stronger Gulf Stream since the current first flows westwards through the Caribbean, before looping through the Gulf and up the East Coast; this would also mean positive anomalies since the water further north is normally cooler and increased flow would push warm water further north)? Also, it has been pretty warm across the Southeast for the last few months (the oceans also likely have warmed as well); La Nina favors a ridge over the Southeast (also why the U.S. mid-Atlantic has had such an awful, snowless, rainy winter, as you can read by the rants here about how sick they are of La Nina and the Southeast Ridge - LOL).
Amazing.....That is exactly what i was thinking but was not sure. Well it seems likely. Also the sub ridge as been established further west than usual. Slackening the current to its east (Canary) and strenghtening the current on the west (Gulf Stream). And downwelling as you pointed out.
13.5S 85.0E - 35 knots 994 hPa
Dvorak Intensity: T3.0/3.0/D0.5
Gale-Force Winds within the center
Near Gale-Force Winds within 50 NM from the center extending up to 185 NM in the southwestern quadrant and up to 100 NM in the northwestern quadrant
Forecast and Intensity
======================
12 HRS: 14.5S 82.9E - 45 knots (Moderate Tropical Storm)
24 HRS: 15.8S 79.4E - 55 knots (Severe Tropical Storm)
48 HRS: 22.8S 78.8E - 65 knots (Tropical Cyclone)
Additional Information
======================
Cloudy pattern has organized but the system still undergoes an easterly wind shear, and the center is located under the eastern edge of deep convection. This system should globally track on the northern then western edge of a strong and stationary upper level subtropical ridge. Available dynamic aids are in good agreement with the forecast scenario.
this is the last issue that I've seen.. you might have to wait until May for an update.
In August 2007, scientists from the University of Minnesota published an astonishing finding in the Astrophysical Journal. The universe, they declared, had a hole in it -- a hole far bigger than anything scientists have ever seen or expected. This "hole" spans almost one billion light years and is six to 10 billion light years from Earth, in the Eridanus constellation [source: Daily Tech]. (For reference, one light year measures about six trillion miles.)
The ATV is a automated transfer resupply vehicle that will service the International Space Station after a month long check out on orbit,..Link
First, the front went through here about 2 p.m today. It rained, fairly hard, I admit, for about, oh, five or 10 minutes. By 3 p. m. the sun was out again. The build up was pretty dramatic, though.
Second, on the December forecast: I pulled this quote from the forecast paper.
One learns more about how the global climate system functions by making real-time public forecasts that have your name on them. This demonstrates your personal commitment to your seasonal forecast methodology and your belief that your current forecast is able to beat climatology. You always learn more when your seasonal forecast busts than when it verifies. Busted forecasts drive us to explain the reasons for the failure and likely lead to enhanced skill in future years.
The bold statement explains why I supported Gray et al when people were denigrating these forecasts in December. It's a tedious method, surely, yet it enables some advancements in the understanding and forecasting of tropical systems to be made. If no one makes an effort to forecast based on the scientific method, we are unlikely to get any closer to understanding what drives our weather.
Strange to see a spacecraft liftoff that I can't look out the window & see. Thanks Pat.
Here is the frontal passage through Nassau.
As u can tell, the source is the Canadian Weather Office . . .LOL
The wind lied down here just as fast as it came up yesterday. Great for running today - running into 25kt is like climbing a hill (which we don't have) & the 10 miles the other way is all downhill. I know its unsafe, but if a race was run during a hurricane passage, you could keep a tailwind both out & back. GN
Looked all gloom & doom by the gfs
Wow.... I hope those folks are sufficiently prepared for a storm like that. o.o
Oh and Weather456, that is good news. meaning less activity in the ePac! Less devastation in Mexico.
Naming has no correlation whatsoever to a storm being bad. Even the fact that Ivan is always bad when named is just coincidence. Still, it's fun to speculate I guess.
Oh and Weather456, that is good news. meaning less activity in the ePac! Less devastation in Mexico.
That's La Nina for you.
Yes that is true. But Mexico also has a Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico side.
For Bedford location in UK, the BBC forecast is not too exciting.....
Link
The Met Office continues to expect an intense low pressure system to move east across the UK during Monday, bringing severe gales and potentially damaging gusts across some areas, more particularly the west and south of England and Wales. Southerly winds are expected to strengthen during the early hours of Monday to give severe gales for a time, coinciding with the morning rush hour in some areas. An additional swathe of severe westerly gales will follow through the morning and afternoon, principally affecting southwest England and the south coast of England. Gusts of 60 to 70 mph are likely with the possibility of 80 mph gusts on exposed coasts and hills. Disruption to transport and power supplies is possible and there may be damage to buildings and trees. In addition high waves and flooding may affect coastal areas in the south. This warning is likely to be superseded by FLASH messages.
Issued at: 1110 Sun 9 Mar
Viewing: 901 - 951
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