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Storm Xynthia hits Eucalyptus & Pine Forests in Galicia... again!

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Largest Eucalyptus forests in Iberia blown down once more?

From February 27th to 28th 2010 the 228 km/h strong wind and rainstorm Xynthia swept accross the Atlantic from Madeira Island en route to coastal Atlantic Europe, causing widespread damage in Portugal, Northern Spain and Western France.

Storm Xynthia Pathway / Ruta del huracán Xynthia / Storm Xynthia damages Pine and Eucalyptus Forests in Europe at Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Xynthia arrasa bosques de pino y de eucalipto en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

Fig. 1: Animation of the pathway of Storm Xynthia from the recently catastrophically damaged Madeira Island to the Baltic Sea, depicting heavily affected areas, including some of the most productive cultivated timberlands in Europe. Base satellite image courtesy Meteogalicia.

Of explosive cyclogenesis origin, as Klaus, the unusual and very fast moving wind blast, with intensities roughly equivalent to a Category 4 Hurricane for localized peak winds, caused catastrophic damage to infrastructures in Galicia and the Northern coast in Spain, affecting once more the largest Eucalyptus timberland in Europe before travelling as a Northeasterlie to hit the Charente Maritime, the Vendee and Brittany in France, causing at least 55 fatalities.

Storm Xynthia maximum wind speed damages Pine and Eucalyptus Forests in Europe at Galicia, Spain / Los picos de viento de la tormenta Xynthia arrasan bosques de pino y de eucalipto en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

Fig. 2: Maximum wind speed readings by weather stations in Galicia during Storm Xynthia (27 to 28 February 2010) reaching 196 km/h. You can compare with similar peaks caused by Storm Klaus (23 to 24th January 2009). Base Map courtesy Meteogalicia.

Maximum wind speeds almost reached the Klaus 2009 new record for measurements in Galicia, surpassing again the effects of cyclone Hortensia in 1984. Peak winds over 150 km/h hit the Atlantic coast, where an important piece of the largest cultivated Eucalyptus rainforest stands; and also hit inland in the already heavily damaged afforested highlands of Eastern Galicia, slowly recovering from previous damage to pine timberlands caused by Storm Klaus last year.


Prospective Catastrophic Damage Areas for Pine & Eucalypt Forests in Galicia (NW Spain)

Once more, cross-checking wind impact cartography with timber resource allocation maps allows to roughly define those areas where winds in excess of 135 km/h may have caused heavy to catastrophic damage to tree plantations, windmill farms and varied industrial, communications and urban infrastructures.

Storm Xynthia damages Pine and Eucalyptus Forests in Europe at Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Xynthia arrasa bosques de pino y de eucalipto en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

Fig. 3: Prospective catastrophic damage areas caused by Storm Xynthia to Eucalyptus plantations in Galicia (Northwestern Spain). Top wind speed (km/h) remarked for each area. You can compare with damage caused by Storm Klaus (23 to 24th January 2009). Base Maps courtesy EUITF - Universidad de Vigo.


Storm Xynthia damages Pine and Eucalyptus Forests in Europe at Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Xynthia arrasa bosques de pino y de eucalipto en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

Fig. 4: Prospective catastrophic damage areas caused by Storm Xynthia to Pinus plantations in Galicia (Northwestern Spain). Top wind speed (km/h) remarked for each area. You can compare with damage caused by Storm Klaus (23 to 24th January 2009) Base Maps courtesy EUITF - Universidad de Vigo.


Even if peak wind speed approached that of Klaus, the average wind gusts were milder for most of Galicia, and prospective damaged timber growing areas are more localized. In addition, the wind peaks hiting the worst affected area by Klaus last year were milder this time, reaching "only" 122 km/h, sparing the very productive heavily Eucalyptus afforested Northern coast from catastrophe.

Why does this happen... and how it looks like?

Storm Xynthia Pathway courtesy of Daniel Corbett, BBC Weahter / Ruta del huracán Xynthia cortesia de Daniel Corbett y el Servicio Metereologico de la BBC / Storm Xynthia damages Pine and Eucalyptus Forests in Europe at Galicia, Spain / La tormenta Xynthia arrasa bosques de pino y de eucalipto en Galicia, España / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation around the world / Eucalyptologics, recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo del eucalipto en el mundo

Check out BBC Wheather's Daniel Corbett video report on the formation and expected pathway of Storm Xynthia.





Storm Xynthia Animated Graphics




Also at EUCALYPTOLOGICS...


Storm Xynthia Europe Forests Damage and Stormwood Map for Galicia, Basque Country, Aquitaine, Ardennes, Vosges, Meuse, Saar, Rheineland, Palatinate, Westfalia, Bavaria, Thuringia, Harz, Hesse, +4 million cubic meters stormwood / Orkan Xynthia Sturmholz Karte Deutschland, Frankereich, Spanien, +4 millionen festmeter sturmholz / Mapa de Daños Forestales Tormenta Xynthia en Galicia, Euskadi, Aquitania, Renania, Palatinado, Sarre, Vosgos, Alsacia, Lorena, Harz, Turingia, Baviera / Tempete Xynthia degats bois Allemagne, France, Espagne / Gustavo Iglesias Trabado, Roberto Carballeira Tenreiro, Javier Folgueira Lozano / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoria y Servicios de Ingenieria Forestal / Eucalyptologics: information resources on Eucalyptus cultivation worldwide



Spatial distribution of stormwood volumes after damage caused by windstorm Klaus to forestry resources in Galicia / Distribucion espacial de la madera de tormenta tras el daño causado por el huracan Klaus a los recursos forestales de Galicia / Gustavo Iglesias Trabado, GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoria y Servicios de Ingenieria Agroforestal, Lugo, Galicia, España, Spain / Eucalyptologics, Information resources on sustainable eucalypt cultivation worldwide / Recursos de informacion sobre el cultivo sostenible del eucalipto en el mundo



Galician Timber Industry LOST 500 Million Euro and 3300 jobs during 2009 / Effects of the Global Crisis on Galician Timber / La industria forestal gallega pierde 500 millones de euros de facturacion y 3300 empleos durante 2009 / Efectos de la crisis en la Industria Forestal de Galicia



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© 2007-2010 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

4 Comments by our readers :::

Gus-GIT Forestry said...

Xynthia was not a Lothar or a Kyrill

01/03/2010 - 18:55

The intense low-pressure system that caused the hurricane Xynthia last weekend did not bring a lot of damages to the forests of France and Germany. According to the French forestry administration, Office National des Forêts, the impacts of the storm seen in the South-West and in Lorraine were much minor than created by the former storms Lothar or Kyrill. Reports from other regions were not received yet.

In the North of the department of Meuse (Lorraine) the storm blew at speeds of 120 to 130 km/h. Here 20,000 to 30,000 cubic meters of storm-fallen timber are expected. The next three days will bring more detailed information.

In Germany the storm mostly raged in Rhineland-Palatinate. There wind speeds of 166 km/h were measured. The state-owned forestry administrations of the west part of Germany are going to publish first damage reports on Tuesday. For the federal state Baden-Württemberg, where the damage requests are already finished, no comprehensive damages were reported. In Bavaria the state-owned forestry operation Bayerische Staatsforsten estimates an amount of 20,000 cubic meters storm-fallen timber in North- and Northwest-Bavaria.

(IHB - via FORDAQ)

Gus - GIT Forestry said...

Peak wind intensities seem to have been:

Portugal
166 km/h (103 mph) - Pampilhosa da Serra
129 km/h (80 mph) - Mogadouro
126 km/h (78 mph) - Penhas Douradas
113 km/h (70 mph) - Porto (Airport LPPR)

Spain
228 km/h (142 mph) - Orduño
196 km/h (122 mph) - Lardeira
157 km/h (98 mph) - Serra do Eixe
147 km/h (92 mph) - Campus de Vigo
146 km/h (91 mph) - Gandara

France
241 km/h (150 mph) - Unconfirmed
180 km/h (112 mph) - Portes-en-Re
175 km/h (106 mph) - Eiffel Tower, Paris
161 km/h (100 mph) - Charente-Maritime
159 km/h (99 mph) - Saint-Clement of the Whales

Germany
166 km/h (103 mph) - Naturpark Pfälzerwald

Gus GIT-Forestry said...

1.7 million cubic meters of stormwood in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate), reports Landesforsten Rheineland-Pfalz.

Sturm Xynthia - Rund 1,7 Millionen Festmeter Sturmholz

Stormwood Comparative

"Vivian" (1990) - 12 Million cbm
"Kyrill" (2007) - 2 Million cbm
"Xynthia" (2010) - 1.7 Million cbm
"Emma" (2008) - 0.7 Million cbm

Gus GIT-Forestry said...

1.2 million extra cubic meters of stormwood in Germany (Hesse), reports Hessen-Forst via IHB via Fordaq.

Stormwood Comparative

"Vivian" (1990) - 12 Million cbm
"Xynthia" (2010) - 2.9 Million cbm
"Kyrill" (2007) - 2 Million cbm
"Emma" (2008) - 0.7 Million cbm


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