(4) Vela Luka, Stari Grad, Vrboska, Jelsa, 11-12 November 1951

Figure 1. Synoptic situation at the time of the event: (left) mean sea level pressure and 10-m wind; (middle) temperature and wind at 850 hPa; (right) geopotential height and wind at 500 hPa.

Nikola Tabain recorded the occurrence of “a large unprecedented seiche, which caused many damage to some people” in Vela Luka (Tabain and Tabain, 1994). The event was also mentioned in daily newspaper article (Slobodna Dalmacija, 14 November 1951) in which it is stated that an occasionally high sea level caused heavy damage in Stari Grad, Vrboska and Jelsa on the Hvar Island. Again, the event coincided with a storm surge at Bakar, but also with one of the 10 strongest Venetian Acqua alta from 1936 onwards (Città di Venezia, Le acque alte eccezionali).  

 

Surface synoptic situation was favorable for generation of storm surges in the northern Adriatic. A mid-latitude cyclone was centered over the Alps, and strong sirroco wind (> 20 m/s), was blowing along the Adriatic Sea. At the 850 hPa height, tongue of warm air mass was spreading from the central Saharan Africa, across the central Mediterranean to
the southern Adriatic. As a result, an upper-level temperature front was present over the Adriatic Sea. At the 500 hPa level, a front side of a trough was located over the central Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea. Associated upper-level winds reached speeds of more than 40 m/s.