[11] However, the NOAA subsidiary Satellite Analysis Branch released information related to a medicane in November 2011 while it was active, which they dubbed as "Tropical Storm 01M", though they ceased services in the Mediterranean on 16 December 2011 for undisclosed reasons.

HNMS calls the meteorological phenomenon Mediterranean tropical-like Hurricane in its annual bulletin and – by also using the respective portmanteau word medicane– makes the term medicane quasi-official.

In September 1969, a North African Mediterranean tropical cyclone produced flooding that killed nearly 600 individuals, left 250,000 homeless, and crippled local economies.

[citation needed] Unofficially, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, the German meteorological service) proposed a system to forecast and classify tropical-like cyclones based on the NHC classification for the northern Atlantic Ocean.

[33] Three independent studies, using different methodologies and data, evaluated that while medicane activity would likely decline with a rate depending on the climate scenario considered, a higher percentage of those that formed would be of greater strength.

When these favorable circumstances coincide, the genesis of warm-core Mediterranean tropical cyclones, often from within existing cut-off cold-core lows, is possible in a conducive environment for formation.

The full development of a medicane often necessitates the formation of a large-scale baroclinic disturbance, transitioning late in its life cycle into a tropical cyclone-like system, nearly always under the influence of a deep, cut-off, cold-core low within the middle-to-upper troposphere, frequently resulting from abnormalities in a wide-spreading Rossby wave—massive meanders of upper-atmospheric winds.

The regular genesis of cold-core upper-level lows and the infrequency of Mediterranean tropical cyclones, however, indicate that additional unusual circumstances are involved the emergence of the latter.

Following the entry of cool sea air, however, it recurved to the southeast before transitioning into a Saharan depression associated with a distinct cold front by 22 September.

The organization of the disturbance improved slightly further before emerging into the Mediterranean Sea on 23 September, upon which the system experienced immediate cyclogenesis,[51][52] rapidly intensifying while southeast of Malta as a cold-core cut-off low,[53] and acquiring tropical characteristics.

[50] In western Africa, meanwhile, several disturbances converged toward Mauritania and Algeria, while the medicane recurved southwestward back toward the coast, losing its closed circulation and later dissipating.

[54] In Malta, a 20000-ton tanker struck a reef and split in two, while in Gafsa, Tunisia, the cyclone flooded phosphate mines, leaving over 25,000 miners unemployed and costing the government over £2 million per week.

After looping around Sicily, it drifted eastward between the island and Peloponnese, recurving on its track again,[58] exhibiting clearly curved spiral banding before shrinking slightly.

[50] On 27 September 1983, a medicane was observed at sea between Tunisia and Sicily, looping around Sardinia and Corsica, coming ashore twice on the islands, before making landfall at Tunis early on 2 October and dissipating.

The development of the system was not encouraged by baroclinic instability; rather, convection was incited by abnormally high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at the time of its formation.

[63] Upon the low's approach near Greece, it began to envelop an area of atmospheric convection; meanwhile, in the middle troposphere, a trough extended from Russia to the Mediterranean, bringing with it extremely cold temperatures.

Its structure now consisted of a distinct eye encircled by counterclockwise-rotating cumulonimbi with cloud top temperatures colder than −50 °C (−58 °F), evidencing deep convection and a regular feature observed in most tropical cyclones.

[67] Intense convection continued to follow the entire path of the system as it traversed the Mediterranean, and the cyclone made landfall in northern Libya at approximately 1800 UTC on 17 January, rapidly weakening after coming ashore.

[64] As it moved inland, a minimum atmospheric pressure of 1,012 mbar (29.9 inHg) was recorded, accompanied by wind speeds of 93 km/h (58 mph; 50 kn) as it slowed down after passing through the Gulf of Sidra.

It made landfall upon the coast of southern Italy on the evening of 13 September with a minimum atmospheric pressure of 990 mbar (29 inHg), dissipating shortly after coming ashore,[73] with a diameter of about 150 km (93 mi).

While approaching the coast of the Balearic Islands, the warm-core low induced a pressure drop of 11 mbar (0.32 inHg) at Palma, Majorca in advance of the tropical cyclone's landfall.

[24] The presence of a mid- to upper-level cut-off cold-core low, a method of formation typical to medicanes, was also key to the development of intense thunderstorms within the cyclone.

[50] The third major Mediterranean tropical cyclone of that year formed north of Algeria, and strengthened while sweeping between the Balearic Islands and Sardinia, with an eye-like feature prominent on satellite.

[78] As the latter low approached the Strait of Sicily, it met an eastward-moving convection-producing cold front, resulting in significant intensification, while the system simultaneously reduced in size.

[77] It then achieved a minimum atmospheric pressure of approximately 986 mbar (29.1 inHg) after transiting north-northeastward across the 40 km (25 mi)-wide Salentine peninsula in the course of roughly 30 minutes at 0915 UTC the same day.

[78] Wind gusts surpassing 144 km/h (89 mph; 78 kn) were recorded as it passed over Salento due to a steep pressure gradient associated with it, confirmed by regional radar observations denoting the presence of a clear eye.

Slightly weakening, Rolf neared the Balearic Islands on 7 November, associating with two fronts producing heavy rain throughout Europe, before separating entirely and transitioning into a cut-off low.

[128] Ianos left four dead people and one missing, in addition to strong tides in Ionian islands such as Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Ithaca and Lefkada, and 120 km/h (75 mph; 65 kn) winds at Karditsa which brought down trees and power lines, and caused landslides.

In Libya, the storm caused flooding in Marj, and the failure of two dams[169] in Derna, and the Jabal al Akhdar district, as well as Benghazi, Susa, and Misrata.

The resultant flooding and heavy rain caused the deaths of at least 5,900 people in the country, making it, by a very wide margin, the deadliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone on record, prompting a state of emergency to be declared by Libyan authorities.