Bonnie Dies; Rampaging Flash Floods Kill 4 in Germany

By: Jeff Masters , 4:10PM,GMT on May 30,2016



 

Tropical Depression Bonnie was declared post-tropical by NHC at 11 am EDT Monday, but the remains of Bonnie will continue to bring additional rainfall of 1 - 3" to eastern South Carolina, eastern North Carolina, and southeast Virginia through Wednesday. As of Monday morning, Bonnie had already brought total rainfall of more than 8 inches over portions of south-central South Carolina. Bonnie made landfall on the coast of South Carolina just east of Charleston at 8:30 am EDT Sunday morning as a tropical depression with top winds of 35 mph. Bonnie spent just 18 hours as a tropical storm, reaching peak intensity of 45 mph sustained winds on Saturday night when the center of the storm lingered over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.


Figure 1. Two-day rainfall amounts from Bonnie for the period ending at 10 am EDT May 30, 2016.

Bonnie's legacy
The 2016 version of Tropical Storm Bonnie was the seventh incarnation of the storm, which made its first appearance back in 1980. My very first flight into a hurricane with the Hurricane Hunters was into the 1986 version of Hurricane Bonnie, which made landfall on the Upper Texas coast as a Category 1 storm--but wasn't powerful enough to cause notable damage. None of the versions of Bonnie over the years have been strong enough to get the name Bonnie retired, and this year's meager effort assures that there will be an eighth appearance of Bonnie in 2022. Only five other Atlantic storms have had more appearances than Bonnie--Arlene with ten (1959 - TS; 1963 - H2; 1967 - H1; 1971 - TS; 1981 - TS; 1987 - H1; 1993 - TS; 1999 - TS; 2005 - TS; 2011 - TS), Florence with nine (1953 - H3; 1954 - TS; 1960 - TS; 1964 - TS; 1988 - H1; 1994 - H2; 2000 - H1; 2006 - H1; 2012 - TS), Cindy with eight (1959 - H1; 1963 - H1; 1981 - TS; 1987 - TS; 1993 - TS; 1999 - H4; 2005 - H1; 2011 - TS), Dolly with eight (1953 – H1; 1954 – H1; 1968 - H1; 1974 - TS; 1996 - H1; 2002 - TS; 2008 - H2; 2014 - TS), and Frances with eight (1961 - H3; 1968 - TS; 1976 - H3; 1980 - H3; 1986 - H1; 1992 - H1; 1998 - TS; 2004 - H4, RETIRED). Thanks go to wunderground member Mark Cole for these stats.

Flash flooding in Germany kills four
A stationary low pressure system over Germany has led to massive amounts of hail and torrential rains in heavy thunderstorms, killing four people. Rainfall amounts in excess of four inches in two hours fell in some regions of southwest Germany, and this water was channeled and concentrated into narrow valleys upstream from the hard-hit town of Braunsbach in Baden-Württemberg's north. Some truly spectacular/frightening videos have come from that town:


Video 1. The flood waters from this video look sped up, but judging by the frequency of the emergency lights on the fire car being swept away and the way the water moves farther upstream, you can see that the speed is real.


Video 2. More incredible footage of cars being swept through the streets of Braunsbach in the May 30, 2016 flash flood.

The low will remain stationary over Germany during the next few days thanks to jet stream weather pattern that has remained "stuck" in place, so additional extreme flash flooding is possible this week. Thanks go to wunderground contributor Michael Theusner for this information.

Jeff Masters