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Storm Ana: Spain's first-ever 'weather with a name'
09/12/2017
GALE-FORCE winds are on their way to Spain thanks to a so-called 'explosive cyclogenesis' due to hit the mainland on Sunday – so explosive, in fact, that for the first time in the country's weather history, it has been given a name.
State meteorological agency AEMET has baptised the phenomenon 'Storm Ana', in keeping with the global trend of alphabetical order and women's names for extreme weather incidents.
Almost as dramatic as it sounds, an 'explosive cyclogenesis' is basically a freak stormy front bringing exceptionally high winds and torrential rain.
It is expected to keep Spain in its turbulent, icy grip for the next three days at least, with gales of at least 80 to 100 kilometres per hour (50-74mph), snow at altitudes as low as 600 metres, plunging temperatures between now and Monday, and rainfall that could reach eight to 10 centimetres an hour.
Four centimetres in an hour is classed as a heavy storm, or gota fría, and is normally intense enough for household insurance companies to accept claims for damage to otherwise properly-constructed and well-maintained homes.
Whilst 'Storm Ana' sounds frightening initially, the intense rainfall is likely to be met with a collective sigh of relief as Spain remains in the clutches of the worst drought since 1995 with reservoirs standing at just 36.5% of their capacity on average, and some – such as the river Segura through Murcia and Alicante – as low as 13.5%.
Galicia in the far north-west will be the first 'victim', but by the early part of the week, the 'explosive weather' is expected to have crossed the entire mainland and to hit the Balearic Islands.
Tidal surges – waves of several metres in height battering the coast – are likely, and the public is warned not to walk or drive within a wide margin of the seafront.
'Yellow warnings' are in place this Saturday for plummeting temperatures in the province of Barcelona, snow in the provinces of Huesca (Aragón), Lleida (Catalunya) and the region of Navarra, and high winds for the all three plus the Catalunya provinces of Tarragona and Girona and the Mediterranean province of Castellón.
Tidal-surge warnings are on 'yellow' for Mallorca and Menorca and 'orange' for Girona, or the Costa Brava.
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GALE-FORCE winds are on their way to Spain thanks to a so-called 'explosive cyclogenesis' due to hit the mainland on Sunday – so explosive, in fact, that for the first time in the country's weather history, it has been given a name.
State meteorological agency AEMET has baptised the phenomenon 'Storm Ana', in keeping with the global trend of alphabetical order and women's names for extreme weather incidents.
Almost as dramatic as it sounds, an 'explosive cyclogenesis' is basically a freak stormy front bringing exceptionally high winds and torrential rain.
It is expected to keep Spain in its turbulent, icy grip for the next three days at least, with gales of at least 80 to 100 kilometres per hour (50-74mph), snow at altitudes as low as 600 metres, plunging temperatures between now and Monday, and rainfall that could reach eight to 10 centimetres an hour.
Four centimetres in an hour is classed as a heavy storm, or gota fría, and is normally intense enough for household insurance companies to accept claims for damage to otherwise properly-constructed and well-maintained homes.
Whilst 'Storm Ana' sounds frightening initially, the intense rainfall is likely to be met with a collective sigh of relief as Spain remains in the clutches of the worst drought since 1995 with reservoirs standing at just 36.5% of their capacity on average, and some – such as the river Segura through Murcia and Alicante – as low as 13.5%.
Galicia in the far north-west will be the first 'victim', but by the early part of the week, the 'explosive weather' is expected to have crossed the entire mainland and to hit the Balearic Islands.
Tidal surges – waves of several metres in height battering the coast – are likely, and the public is warned not to walk or drive within a wide margin of the seafront.
'Yellow warnings' are in place this Saturday for plummeting temperatures in the province of Barcelona, snow in the provinces of Huesca (Aragón), Lleida (Catalunya) and the region of Navarra, and high winds for the all three plus the Catalunya provinces of Tarragona and Girona and the Mediterranean province of Castellón.
Tidal-surge warnings are on 'yellow' for Mallorca and Menorca and 'orange' for Girona, or the Costa Brava.
Related Topics
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