Strong extratropical cyclones can develop intense, damaging winds that are capable of reaching hurricane force speeds (greater than 64 knots). Western Europe is often impacted by strong extratropical cyclones that travel across the Atlantic, also known as European windstorms, and they are the second largest traded catastrophe risk worldwide, second only to United States hurricanes (Browning, 2004). An observable feature in these cyclones is a sting jet: a relatively short-lived mesoscale phenomena in which a descending airstream mixes strong winds down to near-surface levels (Martinez-Alvarado, 2014). Sting jet winds descend from the tip of the cloud comma head into the dry slot, an area not usually associated with strong winds. In 2018, observations and satellite imagery suggested possible sting jet development in former hurricanes Michael and Leslie after undergoing extratropical transition. Hurricane Michael impacted the east coast of the United States, and hurricane Leslie impacted parts of Portugal and Spain. The goal of this research is to further investigate the larger scale conditions associated with the transitions of hurricanes Michael and Leslie on opposite sides of the North Atlantic into intense extratropical cyclones with sting jet-like features.
References:
Browning, K. A. (2004). The sting at the end of the tail: Damaging winds associated with extratropical cyclones. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 130(597), 375-399. doi:10.1256/qj.02.143 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1256/qj.02.143
Martínez-Alvarado, O., Gray, S. L., Catto, J. L., & Clark, P. A. (2014). Corrigendum: Sting jets in intense winter North-Atlantic windstorms (2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 024014). Environmental Research Letters, 9(3), 039501. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/3/039501 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024014/meta
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