Heavy rains, high 0 isotherm and an atmospheric river which will worsen the weather conditions, These are some of the characteristics of what will be experienced during this week.
Over the past few days, there has been much talk about the weather phenomena that will affect the national territory; what has been heard most is the arrival of an extratropical cyclone, which would be accompanied by a category 3-4 atmospheric river. However, what has been observed so far are occasional showers, at least in the Metropolitan, O'Higgins and Maule regions, and a brief hailstorm that occurred this Tuesday, June 4, in the Curicó area.
But is there anything else coming? Patricio González, an Agroclimatologist from the University of Talca, revealed the characteristics of the frontal system through our social networks: «I would like to tell you about a frontal precipitation system that will arrive from Tuesday to Friday according to the established projection. This frontal system is associated with a cyclone that is a low pressure, it is not a hurricane, nor a typhoon, it is a low pressure that will cause or has caused wind storms in Chile. What happens is that this low pressure is relatively extensive in a horizontal sense and will affect approximately from the Bío-Bío or Ñuble region to the south with moderate intensity winds and precipitation.", the specialist explained.
In the Maule region, rainfall is expected to intensify starting on Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday, June 6. In addition, the frontal system will present a high isotherm 0, which has led to various alerts for possible landslides in the pre-mountainous areas.
«This frontal system will also bring snowfall at 2,800, 2,900 meters of isotherm in the foothills and also in the mountain range, so in summary this frontal system typical of the month of June, we are still within the influence of the El Niño phenomenon, it will be a normal frontal system for the central zone of Chile, with the exception that it brings an area of low pressure that in meteorology is technically called a cyclone but it is not a hurricane, hurricanes only occur in tropical zones when the sea is very warm, it has temperatures of about 24, 25 degrees, on the other hand our Pacific Ocean is at 14, 15 degrees so it is impossible for us to have this type of atmospheric phenomenon», Patricio González clarified.
The Meteorological Directorate of Chile, for its part, is constantly providing updates through its social networks:
«In the satellite image #GOES-16 today, you can see in color the #front system "We have reported that it is associated with a wide system of low pressures (lines drawn in red), which will generate frontal lines in the next few days, with the presence of abundant cloudiness and concentrated precipitation from the Maule region to La Araucanía during the week. This system will also be present with a height of the zero degree isotherm higher than normal for the time. This will imply that the expected precipitation will be liquid in a large part of the peaks of the Andes Mountains. Associated with this condition and due to the amount of precipitation expected and the associated wind, different meteorological WARNINGS and ALERTS have been issued." they noted on their Instagram account.
Pulses and intensities
The frontal system that will affect the country during the week will present different pulses; the first one on Tuesday 4th would have been generated and the second one would have been generated during the day on Wednesday 5th, which according to the forecasts will leave precipitations between the Maule and Aysén regions, with rains of between 70 and 100 mm. The most intense will be registered in the Concepción area, which will intensify even more in the interior of the Biobío and Araucanía foothills, leaving up to 200 mm of accumulated rainfall between Tuesday and Thursday.
«This can trigger the rapid river flooding, landslides, with possible road closures due to vehicles, and flash floods. It is recommended to be Pay attention to the warnings and alerts issued by the authorities, to manage possible evacuations "with certainty if they are necessary," indicates the website www.meteored.cl.
After that, instability is expected to continue in much of the country, especially in the central-southern region. The cyclone will remain off the coast of Chile and rainfall could occur in the Coquimbo region during the next week.
Longer-term forecasts indicate that favorable conditions for precipitation will continue to occur, mainly between the Maule and Biobío regions, with estimates of up to 60 mm of precipitation.
