Geology 9: Greece: Greece: Extreme Weather

I have decided to stick with blogging with my usual country of Greece because I have truly been enjoying learning about this country. Along with events like earthquakes and volcanoes, Greece also has the risk over extreme weather hazards such as tornadoes, storms, heat waves, etcetera. This week, the extreme weather event I have chosen for Greece is the tornado.

A tornado is defined as "a violent rotating column of air pendant from cumulonimbus cloud and nearly always observable as a funnel cloud or tuba" (1) Though tornadoes are often associated as happening primarily in the Mid West region of the United States, they also occur in Greece, in smaller frequency.

(Image 1)

As shown in the image above, tornadoes in Greece tend to stick around the coasts, many of which occurring in the Greek island of Crete. The image also shows the waterspout activity in Greece. Waterspouts are "a funnel-shaped or tubular portion of a cloud over the ocean or other body of water that, laden with mist and spray, resembles a solid column of water reaching upward to the cloud from which it hangs" (2) Waterspouts often occur in Greece because it is surrounded by water almost completely. In the twentieth century, there were only thirty three occurrences of tornadoes/waterspouts, none of which were too destructive or deadly. (3) However that being said, Greece has also experienced tornadoes in the twenty first century, some of which having caused damage and destruction around some cities. For example, there was a tornado that tore through the city of Xanthi in Greece in June of 2016. It destroyed crops and breeding units, as well as swept as cars and knocked trees into the roads. (4)