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-   -   storm (https://britishexpats.com/forum/portugal-89/storm-957182/)

andywally Feb 2nd 2026 2:00 am

Re: storm
 
silver lining = plenty of firewood for next winter eh

liveaboard Feb 2nd 2026 2:03 am

Re: storm
 
Pine; no one wants it.
I'll make lumber out of the bigger logs; but... Pine.
No one wants it.

A couple of willows fell down too, they burn quite well.
I don't burn wood for heat.​​​​​†‹â€‹
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...263d889159.jpg

Moses2013 Feb 2nd 2026 3:07 am

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by liveaboard (Post 13337330)
This rain is more like the historical norm I think. Old guy told me that when he was a child, it rained like this every year.
The Iberian peninsula has been drying up for the last couple of decades, some say even turning to desert.
While the rain might be inconvenient, and the wind damaging, the replenishing of ground water is essential to sustain life.

Be happy!

I cleaned up 8 of my fallen trees yesterday. I'll clean up the rest after the storm has passed.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...ea5ab13cdf.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...88512c97c5.jpg

Rain is welcome but a big difference to it being just wet or so wet that people lose homes.

News today on German weather station:Portugal is facing extreme weather conditions! Up to 500 litres of rain are expected this week. Combined with the rainfall from Hurricane KRISTIN at the end of January, this could lead to the flood of the century.

Portugal is facing a massive rain disaster in the first week of February! The situation is extremely serious: at the end of January, Hurricane KRISTIN and other storms brought up to 500 litres of rain per square metre to some regions – and now weather models are forecasting another 500 litres. In total, that would be around 1,000 litres of rain per square metre within a short period of time.

By way of comparison, this is roughly equivalent to the average annual rainfall in Munich and even double what cities such as Vienna or Berlin receive in a whole year. Such amounts of rain overwhelm even large river systems.

‘We are preparing for the worst-case scenario,’ Coimbra Mayor Ana Abrunhosa told state television station RTP. There were fears that dams and dykes would not be able to withstand the feared masses of water.


andywally Feb 2nd 2026 3:35 am

Re: storm
 
1,000 litres of rain per square metre................... I want some of the drugs yre on but in a smaller dose though .............. please............. a ton of rain per square metre .......... and are they on prescription of off of a corner in Porto, I am going to Porto on Wed ........... take me to your dealer .................:hand:

500lts of rain per square metre, in what time frame are we talking ? a year ? 2 year ? 5 year ? are you mad

andywally Feb 2nd 2026 3:58 am

Re: storm
 
dont get me wrong we have had some rain up here recently ...about 10mm per hour at times............ so if we take that as an average 240mm per day, so a litre every 4 days yeah (or thereabouts) so 500 litre would take 125 days (or thereabouts) of continuous 10mm per hour rain .....ergo 1000ltr would take approx 250 days of continuous rain at 10mm per hour (or thereabouts) ............ I keep saying thereabouts cos my solicitor always advises caution ..... ie:- allegedly etc.

am i missing something here.............eh............. I have built an ark though Moses

Moses2013 Feb 2nd 2026 4:35 am

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by andywally (Post 13337376)
dont get me wrong we have had some rain up here recently ...about 10mm per hour at times............ so if we take that as an average 240mm per day, so a litre every 4 days yeah (or thereabouts) so 500 litre would take 125 days (or thereabouts) of continuous 10mm per hour rain .....ergo 1000ltr would take approx 250 days of continuous rain at 10mm per hour (or thereabouts) ............ I keep saying thereabouts cos my solicitor always advises caution ..... ie:- allegedly etc.

am i missing something here.............eh............. I have built an ark though Moses

Well imagine, they had 497 in 24 hours
An extreme precipitation event (EPE) occurred on Madeira Island between 5 and 6 June 2023, setting a new daily precipitation record for Portugal of 497.5mm (IPMA, 2023), surpassing the previous daily record of 333.8mm recorded in February 2010 (Fragoso et al., 2012).

https://www.ipma.pt/en/oclima/extremos.clima/
Your math is wrong,

Yes, in meteorological and practical terms,
1 millimeter (mm) of rainfall is equivalent to 1 liter of water per square meter

Moses2013 Feb 2nd 2026 4:37 am

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by andywally (Post 13337372)
1,000 litres of rain per square metre................... I want some of the drugs yre on but in a smaller dose though .............. please............. a ton of rain per square metre .......... and are they on prescription of off of a corner in Porto, I am going to Porto on Wed ........... take me to your dealer .................:hand:

500lts of rain per square metre, in what time frame are we talking ? a year ? 2 year ? 5 year ? are you mad

https://www.wetter.com/videos/kolumn...0ed638a1049c1e

liveaboard Feb 2nd 2026 5:48 am

Re: storm
 
Usually rain is measured in total mm over a given period, like per hour or 24 hours.
liters per m2 is the same number, just an odd way of presenting it.

We haven't had anything like that amount of rainfall where I live. We have had plenty though, and the neglected drains are causing water to run down the road behind my house (among other things).
My forest is a lake, and my bath barely drains.

Terrible for the people who have major property damage, injuries, or even death.

Moses2013 Feb 2nd 2026 6:11 am

Re: storm
 
In any case, 500mm of rainfall in a few days is a serious amount. As a comparison, in the West of Ireland where I'm from, we receive on average 93mm for the whole of February and people here complain it's wet.

Of course weather is always localised, but it's really no joke. I follow various weather channels and so far all agree that these amounts on top of what already came down is very dangerous.

Anyone interested can check themselves. Just saying, stay stafe.

https://www.wxcharts.com/?dataset=ec...=51.5&lon=0.12

sportpix Feb 2nd 2026 6:50 am

Re: storm
 
This is Mrs Sportpix - a chartered civil engineer with expertise in hydrological management. I have spent the bulk of my career in Hong Kong where we experience between 2500mm to 3000mm per year.
The HKSAR doesn’t issue a rainfall warning until 30mm/ hr has fallen or is anticipated. This is an Amber warning , and certainly doesn’t ruffle the feathers of the general population. We then have “Red” warnings for 50mm/hr and “Black” warnings for 70 mm/hrwhen the public is advised to stay indoors and schools may be cancelled.
I have experienced in excess of 100mm/hr and more than 500mm in a 6-hour period.
”Hydrology 101” also tells us that rainfall isn’t the same as runoff. For further information refer to the “hydrological cycle”. Rainfall may be intercepted by vegetation/surface depressions (some of this will ultimately evaporate - wind alone will achieve this, no need for sunshine), some will infiltrate into the ground depending on soil type and antecedent conditions.

Red Eric Feb 2nd 2026 8:06 am

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by sportpix (Post 13337392)
This is Mrs Sportpix [...]

Oooh, hello! :welcome:

Welcome to Portugal, and to the forum, from me :)

1Steve Feb 2nd 2026 8:17 pm

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by andywally (Post 13337372)
1,000 litres of rain per square metre................... I want some of the drugs yre on but in a smaller dose though .............. please............. a ton of rain per square metre .......... and are they on prescription of off of a corner in Porto, I am going to Porto on Wed ........... take me to your dealer .................:hand:

500lts of rain per square metre, in what time frame are we talking ? a year ? 2 year ? 5 year ? are you mad

Below is the rainfall from a Weather Station near Porto, Pacos de Ferreira. I lived in Spain and one year, 2007, the Rio Girona burst it's banks after 440 litres/m2 in 6 hours. Cars were swept away, houses were flooded, I lost my car. The record for the area was a town called Oliva where over 800 litres/m2 fell in 24 hours. The rainfall there is seriously dangerous when it happens as the recent storms in Valencia proved. Here it is just persistent and annoying if you like the outdoor life but we do require an annual rainfall to keep nature working properly. When I say here I mean the Porto area which is used to a lot more rain than further south.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...1a56a3c68a.png
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...61eb3117f9.png

sportpix Feb 2nd 2026 8:39 pm

Re: storm
 
This is Mrs Sportpix recommending the use of consistent units would help the non- scientists understand.
440 litres is 0.44 cubic metres. Landing per square metre that is a depth of 440mm of rainfall. Being recorded over 6 hours this is equivalent to a mean rainfall intensity of just over 73mm/hr (which would qualify as a black rainstorm in Hong Kong).
Clarifying matters for the general public (and on occasion High Court judges) is an essential skill for professional engineers.

1Steve Feb 2nd 2026 9:18 pm

Re: storm
 

Originally Posted by sportpix (Post 13337431)
This is Mrs Sportpix recommending the use of consistent units would help the non- scientists understand.
440 litres is 0.44 cubic metres. Landing per square metre that is a depth of 440mm of rainfall. Being recorded over 6 hours this is equivalent to a mean rainfall intensity of just over 73mm/hr (which would qualify as a black rainstorm in Hong Kong).
Clarifying matters for the general public (and on occasion High Court judges) is an essential skill for professional engineers.

You need to have a word with the Spanish press as most of them refer to litres/m2. :p I always thought of inches rain until living there where they converted me to litres/m2. Now I am slowly converting to mm/day. :thumbsup:
https://www.lasprovincias.es/comunit...131523-nt.html

sportpix Feb 2nd 2026 10:06 pm

Re: storm
 
This is Mr Sportpix, now you know what I have to put up with 😩


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