What are medicanes? The ‘supercharged’ Mediterranean storms that could become more frequent

The flash flood that has killed thousands of people in Libya this week followed a “medicane”, a rare but destructive weather phenomenon that scientists believe will intensify in a warming world.

The term is an amalgamation of the words Mediterranean and hurricane. Used by scientists and weather forecasters, it is less well known to the wider public.

Medicanes, which tend to form over parts of the Mediterranean Sea near the north African…