John Culatto
GUSTS of over 90km/h could smash into Gibraltar all day Thursday as part of a cold front associated with Storm Ciaran moves into Iberia.
The Met Office Gibraltar forecast the rough weather and warned of ‘flying debris’ brought by the storm as it grows throughout October 2.
A government weather warning said the wind speeds would be from 46-56 km/h gusting at 65-83 km/h as Thursday wore on.
But isolated gusts could reach 93 km/h, the Gibraltar Government said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Travel conditions will be made difficult at times with the risk of flying debris,” the weather warning said.
“The front is expected to clear Thursday night with the winds veering and gradually easing to a moderate to fresh westerly breeze.”
An hourly weather map showed Storm Ciaran as it progressed across the Iberian Peninsular on MeteoGib’s X page.
“While North West Europe will bear the brunt of Storm Ciarán – winds are also set to crank up across Iberia over the next 24 hours as an associated cold front pushes South East,” MeteoGib reported.
It reported that the gale force winds were hitting the local area according to forecasts by the UK Met Office.
Storm Ciaran follows on from Aline and Bernard which caused high wind and rain in Gibraltar in the last two weeks.
Storm Aline first caused its chaos with strong winds forcing planes flying to Gibraltar to divert to Malaga closely followed by Storm Bernard.
Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h blew the most exposed areas accompanied by torrential rain, according to the MeteoGib weather forecasters.
The storms caused flooding in supermarkets and unpassable flows of water along some of the Rock’s sloping stairways like Castle Steps.
Over 150 mm of rain fell in an hour during Storm Aline while Bernard brought winds of nearly 100km/h that caused rockfalls and rough seas.
Scientists have attributed the strength of recent sporadic storms to climate change caused by burning of fossil fuels and other by-products of modern life.
READ MORE:
- ‘British storm’ Ciaran set to batter Europe from Iceland to Gibraltar with ‘explosive cyclogenesis’ in time for All Saint’s…
- FLASH WEATHER WARNING: Gibraltar set to be hit with ‘severe gale force winds’ this evening
- Gale force winds and five metre waves to smash into Gibraltar over next days, weather experts warn
