And They're Calling It "Medicane"

Climate change has brought a new severe weather event to the Mediterranean. It's being called the "medicane." Put simply it's a hurricane, akin to what is routinely experienced in the Caribbean, only it develops in the warming water conditions of the Mediterranean.


You can blame a ‘medicane’ for this week’s deadly flooding in Greece.

Nope, a “medicane” is not a new type of health insurance. It’s a Mediterranean hurricane — such as the one currently developing in the Mediterranean Sea, where warming waters have produced a weather system with the characteristics of a subtropical cyclone.

Flash floods linked to moisture from the storm hit parts of Greece on Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring dozens more. The storm is projected to skirt Sicily and head toward Greece this weekend, potentially inflicting more damage.

Medicanes are so uncommon that scientists have yet to establish a clear set of criteria for them. Weather systems like these are more typically found in the Caribbean, where warmer water temperatures feed tropical storms.

A Mediterranean cyclone generally counts as a medicane if it forms the characteristic hurricane-like “eye,” according to Emmanouil Flaounas, a meteorologist at the National Observatory of Athens who conducts research on medicanes through a European Commission-funded project.

There are plenty of new terms being coined thanks to climate change. "Flash drought" is one, "atmospheric river" is another. Now "medicane." Eventually somebody will have to publish a directory of the next lexicon. I suppose "we're so screwed" probably doesn't fit the bill.

Turns out there are sites where you can brush up on climate change lingo.  Then again, don't. When you see how extensive the word lists are you'll be thoroughly demoralized.