Bad Weather Madeira

The rain certainly came down and never stopped. It has rain all day, and pretty heavy at times, low cloud also in some parts causing visibility problems.

The alert for the south of the Island was raised to orange from 5pm-9pm, and as i write this at 01.15 the rain is still falling.

Rivers are pretty full, lots of flooding and landslides have already started cause some roads to be blocked or closed. Lots of the usual problems at the airport also with flights being diverted to Porto Santo, and water falling in the main Airport Building...

26 flights have been affected with 16 being cancelled, the other 10  flights 5 were diverted to other airports, including the last flight from Lisbon, which tried to land 3 times before giving up and returning to Lisbon.

A wall collapsed at Quinta Magnolia.

Margarida Rodrigues‎

These photos are from the Tunnel da Camacha

                                                                                     Claudio Fernandes‎

Also many drain covers lifted with the sheer volume of water, and the roads are in a bit of a mess all over with more pot holes than you can imagine to try and avoid.... Power cuts this evening in Caniço de Baixo, the power has been off and on a few times, but seems to be stable now. 

The good news is that from today (Friday), the weather looks like it will settle down for a while with some good dry weather. 

Lobo Marinho in rough sea's

Despite the weather warnings of rough sea's Lobo Marinho headed out for its usual trip to Porto Santo this morning. 

It turned out to be a pretty rocky ride when they got close to port in Porto Santo, making it difficuld to dock with the ship rolling from side to side.

See The Video Here, lets hope there were enough sick bags.....

Photo Ivo Costa

Todays Bad Weather.

Its been a strange day for weather today.  Warm humid very hazy, strong sea's, and the wind getting stronger during the day.

This evening the winds picked up, diverting 6 fights, 3 of which from the UK, Strong seas and high waves around the island, and heavy rain which flooded roads quickly in Funchal.

Christmas decorations have also tumbled, as well as the white fencing around the land the Savoy once stood.

We had thunder and lightning for a time also, but things look like they will settle down over night taking us back to bright sunny weather.

Photos From  Diario Noticias

More bad weather on way ?

Potential for stormy weather in the next few days, wind and rain. You should take precaution and make sure levadas and drains are clear, things are tied down or stored away and any lose branches are taken care of so they don't damage your property or cause injury.

Looking at the satellite images from Eltiempo the bad weather will be with us Thursday.

Wet and Windy

 The National Civil Protection Authority warned today for predicting rain and strong wind on Sunday, with possibility of experiencing "extreme events" related to the heavy rain and wind gusting up to 120 kilometers.

Citing the Sea Portuguese Institute and the Atmosphere (IPMA) the Civil Protection, in a statement, warned that the worsening weather takes place on Sunday and Monday and that rain will be occasionally intense, initially in the north and center and then nationwide.

The wind is blowing at a speed between 40 and 60 kilometers, but can reach 100 kms in the highlands and gusts could reach 120, warns the Civil Protection, drawing attention to the precautions when driving (floor slippery and ground water), to trees and full of falls in urban areas and flooding in vulnerable areas or underground structures.

The IPMA is also the official web site a "special information" about changing the time on election day, with a "significant increase" by the end of Monday's day.

Rain, explains the IPMA, starts right on Sunday morning (strong in the north and center) and the wind will be moderate to strong (on the coast) and strong or very strong in the highlands of northern and central.

Copied straight from the Diario Website using Google Translate.

Bad weather arrives

The bad weather is arriving with strong winds, and the sea is looking very rough.

There are a lot of weather alerts in place over the coming days, the worst being from 3pm Friday through to Saturday 12am where Madeira and Porto Santo will be on red alert for high sea waves of 7-8 meters.

Below us a copy of the weather warnings from the news website.

The archipelago will be on Friday and Saturday under red warning, the most serious of four, due to sea waves and is expected waves of 7-8 meters, it was announced today.

According to the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), Madeira and Porto Santo will be under red warning between 15:00 Friday and 12:00 am Saturday due to the forecast of strong sea waves, It is expected northwest of very high waves (7 to 8 meters).

The red warning is the most serious of a range of four and is issued by IPMA there is always a weather situation of extreme risk.

According to IPMA, Madeira is already from 08:00 today to 15:00 Friday also under an orange warning because of sea waves and is expected northwest waves of 5-7 meters.

Will also be under an orange warning between 18:00 and 12:00 today Saturday foreseeing strong wind with gusts of 120 kilometers / hour order.

Madeira is still under yellow warning between 18:00 and 03:00 today Friday due to the forecast of rain sometimes strong.

Weather Update Thursday 22.30

 The bad weather being felt over much of the island is expected to get worse during the night.

The Porto Santo Ferry has been cancelled since Wednesday, and not likely to make the journey till Sunday.

5 cruise ships due in over the next couple of days have also cancelled the visit to the island.

Waves will be the main feature over the coming hours with the North West of Madeira and Porto Santo being worst affected, waves will be between 7-8 meters, but there could be some as high as 15-16 meters in these areas.

There has been no problems at the airport today, and friends of mine went to Caniçal this afternoon and there was no wind or rain at all.

The wind is causing problems over the Island though and this is likely to get worse, more and more photos and videos are appearing on social networks with FaceBook being the most popular. This tree has fallen and hit a car in Nazare Funchal.

I will continue to update over the weekend.

Weather update Friday 11.45am

Well we had a very calm night in Caniço last night and today the sun is shining and the weather very calm.

Over much of the rest of the island the wind has cause a lot of problems mainly with fallen trees. 5 roads are closed and 6 roads are partly blocked. 

The sea waves are expected to be at there highest from this afternoon, this will affect the north or Madeira and Porto Santo the most.

 

Below are a few photos going around the social networks. 

More Bad Weather.

Madeira is on yellow alert for strong winds in the mountainous regions on Wednesday from 3pm till midnight with gusts up to 100kmh, and from Thursday afternoon with gusts of 80kmh.

Sea waves on the north coast will also be strong 4-5 meters, and the whole of Porto Santo with 5 meters.

There is also an early warning out for the weekend with yet more bad weather expected.

Just a quick update for the weekend. Strong winds, rain and waves up to 8 meters are expected. I will start a new post on this with more information nearer the weekend.

Weather Update

Have been out and about today the weather is not to bad, on Pico do Areeiro the wind was really picking up and the temp was showing 3 degrees, to the north it was just cloud, the south has stayed mainly sunny and warm all day. The wind was picking up in Caniçal and also Funchal, but Caniço and Garajau were very calm, and it still is very calm in Caniço.

The wind elsewhere is strong and gusts of 117kmph have been recorded on Pico do Areeiro, and 116kmph in Caniçal. A tree in Santo Antonio has fallen onto a house causing damage to the roof and blocking a road, and in the Nuns Valley there have also been fallen trees with the road blocked for a time.

Santo Antonio

The airport of Madeira has had 2 flights from Lisbon return back to Lisbon after strong gusts meant the planes had difficulty to land.

Waves in the North are still expected to reach maximum heights of 12-14 meters, and if any photos come in I will post them here, and keep this tread updated with any other news.

The night seemed to be calm, the wind was strong and brought down a few trees but the waves seem to have not materialised, another sunny day in the south although it is forecast for some rain and more cloud in the north.

In Lisbon a hail storm has covered an area with hail stones causing a few problems but clearing nice for the locals to see.

See the video Here 

Another Red Alert.

Another red alert has been issued for the North of Madeira and Porto Santo. The red notice will run from Friday 6pm - Saturday 6am for high waves. The waves are expected to be between 12-14 metres, and precautions are all ready in place to close some coastal roads.

Porto Moniz a week ago. Taken from the Diario.

Bad Weather Photos

With all of Madeira now on read alert for Rain, and Orange alert for strong winds, some photos are starting to be posted on Facebook of the damage the sea is already causing and High Tide is not till 8.33pm.

Wind on the way.

Madeira has been placed on Orange alert for strong winds gusting up to 120kmph in places. This warning will start at Midday Tuesday and run till 6am Wednesday. Madeira is also on yellow alert for rain sometimes heavy in places. This again is for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The image below shows the bad weather heading east.

Weather update

Madeira has been placed on red alert for wind over much of the island,especially higher ground and orange alert round the coasts.  Also orange alert for heavy rain along the south coast and bad sea conditions.

Update 3pm

Flights to Madeira have either been canceled or diverted to other locations, a few flights have managed to land though. There is no rain yet but the wind is strong and gusty.
The sea has spectacular waves of 5-6 meters along the south coast and with high tide due at 8.33 pm, I expect some damage or places on the coast will suffer from flooding.
The rain due later is expected to be heavy especially over higher ground with the worst period being between 9pm - 3am but the amount of rain is expected to be 20-30% less than what fell on the 20th February 2010.

Santa Cruz Clean up

The sea front at Santa Cruz is being cleaned up this morning on a large scale. The wood and debris that came down the rivers from the heavy rain on Thursday night has left beaches along the south east coast a mess. Large amounts of wood are being piled up along the sea front for anyone to go and collect for burning.

Photos below from the Diario...

Weather Weather Weather

So we have all been talking about the weather over Europe, how cold wet and cloudy its been, and even in Madeira we have not really had any decent beach weather yet, and this looks set to continue through the rest of Summer.

I know from talking to friends on the Island that they have had summers like this in the past where the end of the year is a lot warmer and sunnier than what the summer had been, and this year looks set to be the coldes since 1816.

Read the full article HERE you will need to translate with Google if you don't read Portuguese.

Translated to English

Yellow weather alert.

Just a quick post, as Madeira is put on yellow alert due to heavy rain from Friday 1st March in the afternoon, through to Saturday morning. Sunday looks also to be unsettled with showers in the morning but heavy rain moving in again in the afternoon. The week ahead looks pretty unsettled until mid week, when things should return to drier weather. 

Today, no sign of rain, and the clouds just sitting above the mountain tops, as seen in the photo below, sent in by Peter Askew, taken from lower Funchal with a zoom lens.

Storm 4th-5th November 2012

More bad weather hit Madeira last night, with the North Coast being hit the hardest.

Ribeira da Janela and Seixal were hit bad with landslides and roads blocked. Some properties have been damaged but no life was lost.

Madeira has had an unusual amount of heavy rain over the last couple of weeks, following almost 18 months of dry weather, so the ground is very dry, and the rain cant soak in as quick as it usually would.

I have collected a selection of photos from the internet and put them together in a set.

More Photos

Waves, Wind & Rain

Today Madeira has been on Orange alert for heavy rain, strong winds and waves of 3.5 - 4.5 metres, This bad weather is starting to clear now and the sun is coming out again. Some great photos from Facebook which I'm sharing with you below.

Photo by Carla Oliveira

Photo by Carla Oliveira

Photo by Nelio Sousa

  

Photo by Peter Askew