The catastrophic floods in 2008, 2010 and 2020 in western Ukraine: Hydrometeorological processes and the role of upper-level dynamics

Abstract. Western Ukraine has encountered significant challenges due to three extensive summer rainfall events and major floods in July 2008, July 2010, and June 2020, resulting in numerous fatalities and substantial economic damage. This study investigates the hydrometeorological conditions, as well as the atmospheric processes, that led to these three devastating flood events in the basins of the Tisza, Prut, Siret, and Dniester rivers in western Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the role of upper-level potential vorticity (PV) structures, analyzed through two complementary approaches: (1) case studies linking the surface weather evolution with upper-level PV dynamics, and (2) a climatological composite analysis on the link between precipitation and upper-level PV, including 22 heavy precipitation events in the period 2000–2022, using reanalysis (ERA5) and satellite-based (IMERG) datasets. The results show that all three floods were driven by multi-day heavy precipitation events, which differed in intensity, spatial extent, and dominant forcing mechanisms. The 2008 event was the most severe, associated with a PV cutoff, intense moisture transport, and extreme precipitation, leading to river levels surpassing historical records. In contrast, the heavy precipitation in July 2010 was driven primarily by direct upper-level dynamic forcing and less moisture transport, which probably caused more localized flooding. The flood in 2020 was notable for its hydrological complexity and evolved more rapidly than the 2008 flood. This event was characterized by remote PV influence, with moisture advection and mesoscale processes playing a more prominent role. In all cases, a persistent atmospheric block hindered the eastward movement of PV structures, maintaining quasi-stationary conditions of prolonged precipitation and moist low-level flow continuously advected against the Carpathian Mountains. Also worth noting, both the 2010 and 2020 events were preceded by several episodes of prolonged precipitation, resulting in saturated soil, gradually increasing river levels and creating favorable conditions for subsequent flooding. The climatological analysis further confirms the strong association between upper-level PV structures and heavy precipitation in the region: 64% of them are associated with a PV streamer, 23% with a PV cutoff, and 13% with combined occurrences of PV streamers and cutoffs. The amplitude and frequency of upper-level PV cutoffs and streamers associated with the heavy precipitation events are largest over eastern Europe, particularly in Romania and Slovenia, pointing out the significance of PV dynamics for heavy precipitation and flood generation in western Ukraine.