Numerical diagnosis of a heavy snowfall event in the center of the Iberian Peninsula

Analysis of Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite images revealed a dark area, generated by a stratospheric intrusion originating in the Atlantic and reaching the Iberian Peninsula. We studied synoptic conditions and mesoscale factors involved in the event, using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. This permitted analysis of the evolution of the dry intrusion caused by a tropopause fold, its movement, and frontogenesis-related mechanisms during its crossing of the Guadarrama Mountains. The blocking of a wet warm mass at altitude owing to a descent of the tropopause but mainly at low levels because of orographic effects, helped concentrate moisture and generate potential instability (PI). This was subsequently released in deep convection, owing to the formation of frontogenesis.