What is a warm blowout, the scientific cause of the tragedy in a music festival in Spain?

What caused the tragedy what happened in the Festival Medusa in the region of Cullera in Valencia, Spain, has a scientific explanation, its name is warm blowout and this meteorological phenomenon was what caused several structures and parts of the stage to collapse due to strong gusts of wind, causing the death of a young participant in the event.

The State Meteorological Agency of Spain confirmed that the natural phenomenon called warm blowout was what caused strong gusts of wind and sudden rises in temperature, according to EFE.

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With these statements, scientists have explained this phenomenon to clarify doubts about the unfortunate event that occurred at the electronics festival, which was also temporarily suspended.

Mar Gómez, Ph.D. in Physics, explained through a thread on Twitter what a blowout and why it happens.

“A blowout in general is about a downdraft of air associated with a thundercloud (known scientifically as cumulonimbus). The air moves rapidly down through the clouds and moves horizontally over the ground for several kilometers. The lifetime of these blowouts is between 5 to 30 minutes”.

And what is a warm blowout?

The scientist, after making this clear, explained in detail what happens with the warm blowouts, which was the phenomenon that arrived precisely at the Medusa Festival and that caused the event.

“The specific case of warm blowouts occurs when the storm’s downdraft (produced in a dry environment) passes through a very dry and warm layer or stratum, where the air accelerates evaporating all the water in liquid state (or hail) and cooling”.

As all the water evaporates into liquid form, it finds a relatively cool and moist stable layer near the surface, but thin enough not to prevent the current from reaching the ground. What results as a sudden and intense heating of the air, and often, a decrease in humidity at the surface.

The consequences of this phenomenon

The warm blowout causes a rapid rise in surface temperature, sharp drop in humidity and very strong and sudden gusts of wind. These are more common in the night, when the storms are already in their dissipation phase. A thermal inversion is caused in the lowest part of the atmosphere.

For the specialist, thermal or warm blowouts are difficult to predict although it is possible to foresee the conditions that facilitate its appearance.

He also announced that It is possible that this Saturday the blowouts will occur again in Spainsince there is a high temperature, with a dry atmosphere and the possibility of storms.

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