Eastern and south-eastern Spain is under a torrent of extreme rainfall, flash floods, hail, lightning and tornadoes from an isolated depression at high altitudes (depresión aislada en niveles altos in Spanish) storm, also known as a DANA storm in Spain. Fifty-one people are reported dead due to the floods, according to British daily The Guardian.
The storm system was caused by a blocking pattern in the atmosphere with moisture and thunderstorms building up over a relatively small region in eastern Spain, evidencing the role played by increased moisture from warming oceans in extreme weather events.
Though the formation of such storms during this period is common for Spain, the amount of rainfall and the subsequent flooding that has been observed is definitely not.
Many regions of Spain such as Valencia have received catastrophic amount of rain in just a few hours from stationary thunderstorms and towns such as Albacete, Turis, Chiva, Utiel and Letur have reported catastrophic flooding and even deadly tornadoes.
“Severe back building stationary thunderstorms have produced huge rainfall totals just north of Valencia, the highest I can find is 430 mm over a 4-6hr period,” private weather forecaster, Met4Cast from the United Kingdom wrote on X.
“The scale of the flooding currently unfolding in Valencia, Spain is unfathomable,” wrote private weather forecaster, Nahel Belgherze on X. He pointed out that in Chiva, “a jaw dropping 343 mm of rain was recorded in just 4 hours, between 4:30 pm and 8:30 pm” local time.
“Once again Europe has found itself a victim of severe blocking, resulting in 13 inches of rain in just 4 hours near #Valencia#Spain, with devastating flooding!,” Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist and climate specialist for WFLA-TV, Tampa Bay, United States, wrote on X.
Berardelli also pointed out “the water vapour loop and deep moisture being funnelled over the same region of Spain for hours”.
The funnelling of moisture is happening from a high altitude low pressure area just off the coast of southern Spain and may continue into tomorrow as well.
The occurrence is similar to September 2023, when Spain had suffered from floods due to an omega blocking pattern that had cut off a low-pressure system from the northern hemisphere sub-tropical jet stream and caused floods in Madrid, Toledo, Cadiz and Castello, killing four people.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) had concluded that the extreme rainfall event in Spain and the subsequent flooding was a once in a 10-40 year event.
WWA is a global consortium of climate scientists who study the role played by human-induced global warming and the consequential climate change in the occurrence, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, cold spells, extreme rainfall, floods and storms.
The role played by global warming and consequent climate change in the occurrence of the current extreme rainfall and flash floods in Spain remains to be seen.