The Vb-Weather Type

The so-called Vb situation ranks among the most dangerous ones (Fig. 4.25), which received this name due to the unusual tracking route of its lows from the Bay of Biscay to the 

Sunday, December 25,2005 12 UTC ECMWF Forecast t+072 VT Wednesday, December 28,2005 12 UTC 500 hPa Height 

FIGURE 4.25 Vb-weather type over Europe (500 hPa surface) on December 25, 2005, 1200 UTC (ECMWF, with permission). Color figure on CD, Chapter 20.4. 

then to the Eastern Alps/Balkan Mountains, and finally toward Poland and the Baltic Sea area. 

Often this weather type brings heavy bad weather disasters to central Europe from the Alps to Scandinavia, in winter persisting strong snowfall with drift, in summer lasting heavy rainfall with flooding (Roloff and Brtill, 1979 Bursting and Dieterich, 1987). 

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Frequently the Vb-weather type is a cause for the emergence of storm surges in the western and central Baltic Sea (Section 4.2.2). 

Therefore, the Vb-weather type belongs to the best-known and formidable large-scale weather situations of Europe and the Baltic Sea. 

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