Among the numerous storms that have struck the Iberian Peninsula in recent years was Storm Fabien . It was the sixth named storm of the 2019-2020 season. It began with an orange alert for strong gusts of wind that generated numerous coastal phenomena in Galicia. This all occurred on December 18th at 22:30 PM. Later, a red alert was issued as the storm extended to the Cantabrian coast.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the Fabien storm, how it originated and what its characteristics are.
Formation of the storm Fabien
The passage of this storm left its mark across the entire Bay of Biscay, moving towards France quite rapidly. By the early hours of the 22nd, almost all of its effects on Spain had ceased. This storm formed within a fairly intense and humid zonal flow that crossed the entire Atlantic Ocean. It could be said that an atmospheric river laden with precipitation formed in this area, which, with its high humidity, had created Storm Elsa just a few days prior.
The detection of Storm Fabien began on the 19th at 6:00 PM, when a small drop in pressure was detected south of Newfoundland, with a central pressure of just under 996 hPa. Twenty-four hours later, at 6:00 PM on the 20th, the storm's center was located in the middle of the North Atlantic, with a pressure of 970 hPa . As expected, this drop in pressure will bring strong winds and heavy rainfall.
Due to this pressure difference, explosive cyclogenesis occurred . From this point, it moved rapidly towards Europe and traveled along the atmospheric river. The center remained around approximately 45-50°N latitude. By the end of the 22nd, Storm Fabien had completely dissipated over the Netherlands and Denmark.
Phenomena and warnings of the storm Fabien
On the afternoon of the 21st, a red streak warning was issued (with a threshold of 140 km / h) in the north of Coruña and Lugo and the southwest of the Cantabrian Mountains of Asturias, and an orange streak warning was issued in the rest of Galicia, Asturias, almost all of Castilla y León. The central system and the mountains of Castilla-La Mancha and Eastern Andalusia (values ​​between 90 and 120 km / h, according to the autonomous communities), between the 21st in the afternoon and the 22nd in the first half of the day.
Regarding coastal phenomena, the Cantabrian Sea and the Atlantic coast of Galicia issued a red alert due to west-southwest winds of force 8-9, and locally 10, and a sea level rise of 8-9 meters . Most other coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands issued orange alerts for coastal warnings. Rainfall was not the most significant aspect of this event; rather, it was the winds. Nevertheless, some level and orange alerts were issued for accumulated rainfall exceeding 80 mm in 12 hours, especially in the mountainous areas of the province of Albacete.
Main impacts it had in Spain
Once we understand how the storm formed and its characteristics, let's look at the impacts it had on the Iberian Peninsula. The most significant effects of the storm were due to the intense waves that affected the entire Galician and Cantabrian coast. These waves were primarily caused by strong gusts of wind, many of them reaching hurricane force. These gusts affected a large part of the peninsula, especially the northwest and the Balearic Islands.
Unlike the previous storm, no fatalities were reported that could be associated with the passage of Storm Fabien. However, material damage was considerable in the most affected areas. Although rainfall was more widespread, the latest record for this storm was over 60 mm in 24 hours in the main AEMET surveys. This record was obtained in Grazalema, where 145.2 mm were collected on the 21st.
Given that from December 16th to 22nd, a strong, very humid, and direct zonal airflow occurred over the peninsula throughout the week. Among these, storms Daniel, Elsa, and Fabian occurred consecutively, and the accumulated rainfall was significant.
Storm studies
The concepts of a weather bomb or explosive cyclogenesis are not media inventions. They are terms that originated in the scientific community and have a long history. Meteorologists began using adjectives like "explosive" or nouns like "bombs" to describe these types of storms. The concept emerged from the Bergen School in Norway, where the founding fathers of modern meteorology taught, and gained popularity in 1980 when two meteorologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mentioned it in an article to define a cyclone that loses more than 24 millibars of pressure in just one day, precisely as happened with Fabien, which has been named by the State Meteorological Agency.
With climate change, it's expected that red alert warnings will be issued roughly every three years, depending on the meteorological variables considered when studying storms. One of the things that protects our region is the Azores High. This large anticyclone blocks storms. In fact, it was the key factor in dissipating this particular storm starting on the 22nd.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Fabien storm, its origin and its characteristics.