Iberian storms

[jdaw1]

Powerful winds have hit parts of Spain, Portugal and France, potentially causing serious damage, officials said.

As winds of up to 140km/h (87mph) lashed parts of Spain, the interior minister warned people to stay inside, avoid driving and postpone walks.

However the country's meteorological agency said the storm would be brief.

Portugal's Madeira island, which is reeling from downpours which killed dozens of people last week, was also hit by the fresh storm.

All of Portugal was placed on orange alert - the second highest - by civil protection authorities.

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Spain's north-western region of Galicia, the Basque country, Castilla y Leon and Cantabria were also on high alert.

Also see the thread on the mudslides in Madeira.

[Roy Hersh]

From what a friend told me today, it was no where near as bad as last Saturday on Madeira, thank god! The only issue now is that there is no room for ground absorption/drainage and even the sewer systems are still not back to normal in some spots.

But given Haiti, Japan, and Chile in the past months or two, what a crazy time. The Douro is supposedly fine as of yesterday.

[Roy Hersh]

This came to me yesterday by one of the principals of a Port house:

Just down from the Douro where it continues to rain incessantly, just + 3° C on the Marão this pm, so snow tonight on the high mountains around the Douro for sure.

Yesterday we had 140 kms winds in the Douro and I have two old pine trees down in my woods next to my vineyard in the Pinhão valley.

The train between Regua and Pinhão was cut yesterday by a rock slide and many terraces and vineyards are taking a battering. Nothing as serious as the disaster in Madeira last week or earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, but it has been a very harsh winter for the Douro. I have quiet a lot of damage in my vineyard from the rain. The Douro is inches away from flooding, both in the Douro and in Gaia.

Guess my earlier source was way off the mark, and I wanted to provide proof positive of what's going on there, very different from info I had received from a less reliable character.

[jdaw1]

Presumably this bodes well for an excellent vintage in 2011.

Roy: please post further news as you receive it.

[uncle tom]

Presumably this bodes well for an excellent vintage in 2011

The ground was under hydrated at the close of the last vintage, which would appear to have been corrected now. There has also been some cold weather over the winter months, hopefully enough to kill plenty of bugs..

Not such a bad start to the year really, if one discounts the cost of mending terraces etc..

After a very promising 2009, 2010 has a mountain to climb if it is to prove itself better; but at this very early stage, there's nothing obvious to stop it getting there...

Tom