The Genoese low Boris is a low pressure system from northern Italy, which brought heavy rainfall to our part of Europe. It is characterized by intense and long-lasting rain, and is formed when cool air from the north meets warm and humid air from the Mediterranean. On the one hand, this is a well-known and recurring phenomenon, but this time it was a bit different.
Than Genoese Boris different than usual. “A very rare and exceptional event”
“It was a very rare event in terms of pressure distribution and an exceptional event in terms of precipitation” – an international team of scientists writes in a report from the ClimaMeter research project. They emphasize that cyclones such as Boris show deeper pressure minima (-2 hPa) and bring up to 20 percent more rainfall (4-8 mm per day) than the average for similar events in the past. They add that some areas in Lower Austria have received from 300 up to 350mm of rain in just a few days – two to four times more than the September average.
“In other parts of Austria, precipitation totals reached 270 mm, while in the mountains, even at lower altitudes, heavy snowfall occurred, with Obertauern recording one metre of snow. This excessive rainfall caused rivers such as the Elbe, Oder, Morava and Salzach to overflow their banks, leading to extensive flooding. In Poland, the southern regions of Silesia and Lower Silesia were particularly hard hit,” the report reads. The scientists assess that the characteristics of the Genoese Boris lowlands “can largely be attributed to human-induced climate change”. Money.pl adds that after the low “brought massive river floods to Central and Eastern Europe, it unexpectedly turned back over Italy and Croatia.”
Polish scientists: We warned. Appeal to parliamentarians
About the fact that one week we are dealing with heat and drought, and the next with a catastrophic flood Polish scientists wrote last week“This is not an isolated exception to the norm. This is new reality” – they emphasized in a special letter to the Speaker of the Sejm and Polish parliamentarians. “We warned, but we do not see an effective political initiative aimed at protecting citizens from the effects of climate change”. The appeal was signed by scientists from, among others, the University of Warsaw, the University of Silesia and the Warsaw School of Economics. “The last few days in Poland have been a textbook week passing in an era of changing climate” – wrote the scientists, who demand a parliamentary debate on ways out of the climate crisis. In their opinion, this dangerous, “new reality” will cause multiple consequences. From lowering the comfort of life and increasing costs lives, through threats to the health and lives of citizens, irreversible destruction of nature in Poland, rising economic costs, to social destabilization.