Winter conditions in Southwestern Europe can be very rainy and stormy (Spain, Portugal)

Wow!!! Thank you for the update. How much worse was Germany and France? Sounds miserable.

We (Hungary) ot some lower than average temperatures and some beautiful snow (but never more than about 3 inches), oh and a few hours of misty light rain on a few days when the temps were up, but otherwise its been normal.

It's been mixed rain and snow in the Rhine Pfalz and Alsace-Lorraine pretty much since Thanksgiving.. Temps have been below, or right around freezing most of the time. Very rare days over 40, very rare blue skies. Lots of ice and fog. This is pretty normal. We did get some snow that stayed around, but not a huge amount. Some freezing rain. Christmas wasn't "white", but it started snowing directly after and then every day for a week. New Years had a high around 30f depending on where you were.

It's finally starting to warm up, and if it doesn't rain this weekend car washes will do bumper to bumper business due to all the salt on the roads.

KGC, yes, some of the same here. We were spoiled after last winter which was fairly warm and dry. But so far nothing that has caused an upset to normsl activity.

Not affected by these storms Germany was split in the last days into warm Southwest (around + 5 to 9°C) where KGC lives and cold Northeast (around - 5 to -10°C) where I live. The weather system barrier was laying just across Germany.

In Northeast wind chill down to -15 to -20°C. Rügen island had severe ice issues at harbors and ports (see picture in this article). Only ship with ability to break ice of 60 cm were allowed to approach them. Hiddensee has tourist warning since days.

Due to black ice BER airport is closed since yesterday evening and re-opening is not scheduled at the moment.

Remarkable is that we have wind from East with ice and snow conditions coming in high clouds from South, so two separate layers in atmosphere. Unfortunately cold air is below warmer air in higher layer (inversion weather) which leads also to unusual higher AQIs for some days, supported by emission clouds from brown coal heating from Poland.

So surprisingly we have winter conditions in winter. :-)

The high pressure weather system over Scandinavia has started moving to East.

Mark, thanks for this. It suggests that from time to time when someone will ask where to go in the winter a not uncommon answer is Spain because its warmer. I’m not saying that is bad advice, just know that Spain has a lot of weather conditions that vary a lot by location, so one should do some research. Personally, for me, places like Spain sound so lovely in warm weather, not sure I would squander the first opportunity to experience them in less-than-ideal weather. For cold weather my philosophy has always been to go where they do cold weather well, Germany for instance.

Likely those weathers are worse perceived by people in these countries which have more rarely such strong winter conditions.

And I understand the recommendation for Spain and Portugal in winter because the statistics show milder conditions and spring starts very early in parts of Spain, e. g. almond blossom on Mallorca in February.

More away from Iberian mainland are Canarian Islands and Madeira, so these are best guess good options too.

During European winter also destinations in Egypt such as Hurghada area are demanded destinations to enjoy a warmer and more sunny weather.

We don't like going to Europe in the Winter. We have done Portugal in the Spring and found the water in the Atlantic to be much colder than we expected.

Update: the 3rd winter storm since first post hit Southwest of France and Catalonia (Northern Spain).

"With a top speed of 100 mph, storm Nils swept across the beach at Biscarosse on the Atlantic coast in southwestern France. Winds also reached speeds of over 75 mph in Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Béziers.

According to the French weather service Météo France, this made the storm one of rare intensity. Numerous trees were uprooted and several trucks were blown over.

Early in the morning, around 900,000 households were also without power, according to the local utility company. Some highways were closed and some trains were canceled.

Five French departments are currently under the highest storm warning level, red. The storm is expected to move towards the French Mediterranean coast and Corsica."

For more details about situation in Spain and Portugal read source: article in German language.

See also Euronews video.

Thanks Mark. Just canceled the Paris trip.

Or just re-book to French Guiana if you want to practice French language in France.

Good morning,
I have had several B&B email me and say there establishments were badly damaged or destroyed from the recent storms ( Nazare,, Tomar, Obidos and Alcobaca and they will be closed for several months. I was trying to book a B&B type base for our trip to Fatima( March 16-18) before we head to Porto where we will stay for days. Lots of damage reported. even roads closed and trains unable to run.

Thank you
Pat

Mark, odds are better that I can practice my Guianese Creole than French. Depends on the bar.

Pat, thank you for the insight into a concrete case. I hope you will find a good solution and that the planned hosts will overcome all this quickly.

One more from the news side:
" State forecaster Météo France warned that persistent winds of 100 kilometres per hour or more were expected across the southwest following Storm Pedro's arrival, with powerful gales potentially reaching 140 km/h.

Four departments in western France remained on red alert for flooding on Wednesday as Storm Pedro moved in, with a further nine under orange alert for rain and flooding.

Charente-Maritime, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne and Maine-et-Loire are the worst-affected areas, with France's national flood monitoring service reporting that soil moisture has reached its highest level since records began in 1959. ...

France has been under orange or red weather alerts somewhere in the country for 30 consecutive days, according to Météo France." Source: Euronews article.

Good luck to all affected people.

Wow! I feel silly now for complaining about 40F days and very slightly snowy evenings. Its been a cold winter and I am just ready for better. My prayers go out to those less fortunate.

The “very southwestern” Portuguese and Spanish islands are not immune. My own experience visiting Madeira in February a couple of decades ago bears this out. It rained almost the entire time. I’m still glad I went - the island is gorgeous and, not surprisingly, lush.