Significant Rainfall and Flooding Impacts Parts of Central to Eastern Spain! (credit: Meteo Europe)

DISCUSSION: Within the last couple of days, a strong low pressure system gradually moved through parts of western Europe.  As a result of this low pressure system moving off the far northeastern Atlantic Ocean and towards parts of western Europe, many parts of Portugal and Spain were placed in the cross-hairs of a notable amount of atmospheric moisture content.  Due to a combination of large amounts of incoming water vapor content from the Atlantic Ocean as well as favorable mid/upper-level atmospheric dynamics, this resulted in many areas observing several periods of very heavy rainfall.  As you can see in the video footage above, this led to significant street flooding and likely even more severe episodes of flash flooding in some locations.  This was more than likely enhanced by the presence of higher terrain just to the west and to the southwest of the city of Alicante, Spain.  Hence, as larger quantities of atmospheric water vapor content moved off the ocean and across the higher terrain of central-to-eastern Spain, this helped to amplify the intensity of the rainfall which impacted parts of central-to-eastern Spain. 

To learn more about other high-impact weather events occurring across Europe, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz