2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags: Rex blocks

OMEGA BLOCK

For: Mains

Topics covered: Rising temperature caused by Omega Block, Rex Block

News Flash

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have recorded their highest ever temperatures.

The latest heatwave is caused by an “Omega block”.

Blocks (Meteorology)

Blocks in meteorology are large-scale patterns in the atmospheric pressure field that are nearly stationary, effectively “blocking” or redirecting migratory cyclones.

They are also known as blocking highs or blocking anticyclones.

Omega Block

Omega Block is a meteorological effect.
It is a high-pressure pattern that blocks and diverts the jet stream, allowing a mass of hot air to flow up from northern Africa and the Iberian peninsula.
An omega block is an extreme version of a “blocking high”, an area of high pressure which remains stationary for a prolonged period.
It gets its name from the way that the jet stream bends around the high and the lows on either side of it, forming a shape resembling the Greek letter omega – Ω.
They typically have a low-high-low pattern, arranged in the west-east direction.
This type of block can remain in place for weeks, preventing the normal eastward progression of weather systems.
The mechanism of blocking is still not well understood.

Rex Blocks

Rex blocks (or dipole blocks) consist of a high situated poleward (north in the Northern Hemisphere; south in the Southern Hemisphere) of a low.
Very often both the high and the low are closed, meaning that the isobars (or constant geopotential height lines) defining the high–low close to form a circle.
Rex blocks are named after the meteorologist who first identified them.

Source: The Guardian

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