The Gota Fria came!

Description:

Valencia was on red alert for risk of heavy rain and thunderstorms and ......  

The rest of the community of Valencia, Murcia and the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia are on orange alert. The Valencia, Murcia and the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia are at risk orange alert for heavy rain or storms such as occurred this weekend, according to the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET).

The greatest risk is concentrated in the south and center of the province of Valencia, where there is extreme risk red alert for heavy rains. In fact, rains from Sunday evening until 7.00 am on Monday fell more than 100 liters per square meter in some municipalities in the southern province of Valencia and north of Alicante.

Specifically, in the province of Valencia, Pinet accumulated 159 l/m2, Manuel, 115; and Rótova, 134, while in Alicante, recorded 107 Murla l/m2 and Vall de Laguardia, 100. Below 100 liters, highlighted in the towns of Valencia Villanueva de Castellón, where they fell 83 l/m2; Antella, 61 and Bellús, 58, while in Castellon reached the 76 l/m2 in Vila-real, Alicante 51 l/m2 in the Gallinera Vall.

In the provincial capitals, the figure was highest in Castellon, where they fell 81 l/m2. In Valencia five liters were collected, concentrated between 12.30 and 2.30 hours last night, while in Alicante in the airport area, two l/m2 rained.

According to Valencia Life Network in a report about Alicante ......

The City of Alicante yesterday registered the most intense rainfall for the last twelve years when 80 litres per square metre fell from the skies in the space of four hours, but this was far from what happened in  September of 1997 when 270 litres per square metre were recorded in twelve hours. Also yesterday several kilometres of the AP-7 motorway were closed after rainfall caused a landslide near Benissa.

Eventually operator Aumar managed to open one lane in each direction, but the continuing rainfall made the re-opening extremely difficult. According to the Emergency Coordination Centre, other towns in Alicante Province were also affected by heavy rains yesterday, including Callosa d’En Sarria, where 50 litres per square metre were recorded, Guadalest (34), Altea (32), Agres(25), Confrides(22) and La Vall de Laguar(21). The rains will continue today, but the storm itself is expected to move towards the provinces of Valencia and Castellon, where it is expected to make its presence felt tomorrow.

Torrevieja’s new river roads

After the hottest summer for fifty years, Torrevieja is experiencing one of the wettest Septembers for half a decade. Monday’s heavy rains should not have caught the emergency services unprepared but many of the town’s roads around Carrefour shopping centre, downtown and in Playa los Locos sported over half a meter of fast flowing water, which didn’t seem to have anywhere to go!

Car after car stalled in the high waters as electrics became wet, caused many times because trucks and vans, with a higher road clearance, created waves that flowed unabated into the engine departments of oncoming vehicles. Having personally given about a dozen fireman’s lifts to stranded ladies and children outside of Ardy’s, I can attest that there was no sign of any emergency services, fire trucks nor Proteccion Civil on site for the three hours that I was ‘stranded’ in the vicinity awaiting the ‘river’ levels to drop.

We all know that Torrevieja has high kerbs to allow heavy water to flow down to the sea and thus, in this part of town it certainly could not be classed as an emergency, more of an inconvenience. What was lacking, due to the absence of local patrols, was the erecting of barriers to stop traffic trying to pass in these conditions. The same situation occurs every time when there is a heavy rainfall so authorities cannot say they were unaware of a possible situation. When barriers eventually arrived (at only one end of the street but not the three access roads leading onto it!) these quickly started to flow away; due to the speed of the water!

This week’s rain caused more inconvenience than disaster. Other parts of the Valencian Community were very badly hit with thousands of euros of damage caused to property, roads, bridges and cars. Hopefully this will act as a wake-up call for the Emergency Services to be on their guard for the next time such weather is predicted, should such weather conditions be expected.     (Torrevieja report by Keith Nicol)

And as for the meaning of Gota Fria?  I got this from Wikepedia.

The cold drop (in Spanish: "Gota fría") is a meteorological phenomenon that appears when a front of very cold polar air, a jet stream, advances slowly over Western Europe, at high altitude (normally 5-9 km or 3-5.5 mi).

If a sudden cut off in the stream takes place, caused by various reasons, like the effect of the high pressures, a pocket of cold air detaches from the main jet stream, penetrating to the south over the Pyrenees into the warm air in Spain, causing its most dramatic effects in the Southeast of Spain, particularly along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, especially the Valencian Community.

This phenomenon is associated with extremely violent downpours and storms, with speeds of 100-200 km (60-120 mi)/hour, but not always accompanied by significant rainfall. For this it is necessary that the high atmospheric torrential rain instability in the lower air layers to combine with a significant amount of water vapors. Such a combination causes the masses of cold air to rapidly discharge up to 500 liters per square meter in extremely rapid rain episodes.

This phenomenon usually lasts a very short time, (from a few hours to a maximum of four days) as it exhausts its water reserves without receiving a new supply.  The clouds are formed in the Atlantic Ocean. The more extreme the difference in temperature, the more water is stored in the clouds. The Cold Drop can produce snow or hail.

This way a great mass of cold air rotates and floats like a drop over a warm area.   The torrential rain caused by cold drop can result in the devastation of buildings, etc. caused by torrents and flash floods.


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