Forest fires on Madeira

[jdaw1]

Firefighters have been battling forest fires across the Portuguese island of Madeira for more than two days.

Dozens of people have abandoned their homes as the wildfires, which began on Wednesday, came close to settlements.

The latest evacuations have taken took place on Porto Santo, a smaller island near the main island of Madeira.

High winds are said to be hampering efforts to contain blazes on both islands.

Television footage from Porto Santo showed houses catching fire and firefighters urging residents of the village of Camacha to leave their homes, the Reuters news agency reported.

On Wednesday, TV images showed flames several storeys high right on the edge of Madeira's main town, Funchal. The area is now out of danger, but fires have broken out elsewhere on Madeira.

Two houses were destroyed and at least 25 more damaged in the town, according to officials quoted by the Associated Press.

At least 75 firefighters have been despatched from the Portuguese mainland to help the overstretched fire services.

[jdaw1]

The BBC has a video story Wildfires sweep through Madeira.

[uncle tom]

The weather records for Vila Real indicate that there's been no significant rain in the Douro since mid June, and the dry spell is forecast to continue until the end of the month, with well above average temperatures.

It follows that this is likely to be a continuing story, and a bad year for fires on mainland Portugal.

The vines will also be needing a pre-harvest drink. Tropical storm Erin looked promising, but this is now filling, although there is a small chance that some of it's remnants will find their way to Iberia.

Behind that there is a potentially big system forming off the coast of Guinea, but that far south it will probably crash into the Americas, and not make it's way across the pond.

The prediction for this year's hurricane season is that it will be a busy one, although it has been relatively quiet so far..

[uncle tom]

As I feared, the mainland is now suffering serious blazes..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23816114

Saw a piece on France24 that said the French wine harvest was running 2-3 weeks later than normal, and earlier this year it was suggested that the late winter was going to push the port harvest back a week or so..

But - read Oscar's blog:

http://quevedoportwine.com/

It looks like things are are pretty much on schedule, although the uneven ripening reported is a time-honoured bad indicator.

However, after a very long period of dry weather, there's a little bit of rain in prospect around the 29th, which will hopefully be just what the vines need to set them up for the harvest.

So, fingers crossed..

[uncle tom]

The rain that was forecast for tomorrow is no longer expected, and there is no sign of any on the way. The forecasts currently predict that there will be no rain at all until the end of September.

This is not good news for either the vintage or the firemen..

[djewesbury]

[uncle tom]

Try looking up Vila Real - you'll probably be given exactly the same forecast, even though VR is more than 1000ft higher than Pinhao..

[djewesbury]

Try looking up Vila Real - you'll probably be given exactly the same forecast, even though VR is more than 1000ft higher than Pinhao..

Yep.

[uncle tom]

Latest reports from Portugal are quoting 16 fatalities to date, 28 major blazes across the country and over half a million acres burnt.

No specific reports from the Douro noted.

[uncle tom]

The weather forecasts over the last week have been changing dramatically almost every day - at one point, a full week of wet weather was forecast, which would probably have been the ruin of the vintage - the nerves of the growers must be a little stretched now..

However, there is now a forecast for half a day's rain tomorrow morning, followed by a return to fine weather. This could be very beneficial, provided it turns up, and doesn't appear as hail.

My concern is that the forecast is based on the rain being in the nature of home-grown storms, rather than a passing Atlantic system. Living in the East of England, I have often noticed that Met office's predictions for thundery rain often fail to materialise after a long dry spell, when there is very little moisture rising from the ground to reinforce the clouds.

I do hope the vines get a timely livener tomorrow - and that it reaches the ground unfrozen..