A compact and stationary area of low pressure brought a sustained period of heavy rain to southern parts of Madagascar this week, with weather stations at Taolagnaro and Toliara recording five-day rainfall totals of 178mm and 196mm respectively, with a peak 24-hour total of 93mm at Toliara.
This area of low pressure strengthened to tropical cyclone status on Tuesday and was given the name Elvis. Although southern Madagascar experienced gusty winds owing to the storm, Elvis’s primary impacts on land were the result of the persistent rainfall. As of 9am on Thursday, Elvis contained maximum sustained winds of 40 knots and was tracking south-south-east, with no further effects on land expected before the storm undergoes extratropical transition by Sunday.
The European windstorm season continued apace, with three named storms affecting western Europe. While Storm Éowyn was bringing strong winds and heavy rain and snow to Ireland and Britain last weekend, Storm Herminia was named by the Spanish national weather service. This was swiftly followed by Storm Ivo, named on Monday by the Portuguese national weather service. A strong jet stream across the North Atlantic was responsible for the rapid intensification of these systems.
In Spain, Herminia brought gusts of 96mph to the Picos de Europa national park. Strong southwesterly winds also brought an unseasonably warm air mass to Spain, leading to January temperature records being broken. Valencia recorded a maximum temperature of 27.1C, beating the previous January record of 26.5C.
Finistère in north-western France had gusts of 75mph on Sunday, and these strong winds continued into the new week, with much of the west coast of the country put on orange alert for winds on Tuesday.
The rain from Herminia caused major problems, with parts of Brittany put on red alert for rain and flooding on Monday. In Rennes, the regional capital, about 400 people were evacuated after the worst flash flooding in 40 years. Eight other departments were put on orange alert, mostly for rain and flooding, with the French Alps put on orange alert for avalanches.
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Later in the week, France was affected by Storm Ivo, which arrived on Wednesday and brought further heavy rain, notably in the west.
