Barrage of storms to bring rain, strong winds from London to Madrid this week

By Eric Leister, AccuWeather meteorologist

January 31,2017, 10:54:56AM,EST

 

 

Western Europe will be under siege from a series of storms this week as locations from the United Kingdom to Spain brace for strong winds and rain.
In a dramatic shift from the largely tranquil weather so far this year, Dublin, London, Paris, Madrid and Lisbon could all have travel-disrupting weather as multiple Atlantic storms lash western Europe.
The initial threat for travel disruption will be on Thursday as the first storm takes a shot at western Europe.

The greatest impacts will be across northern Portugal and northern Spain where local downpours and wind gusts of 65-80 kph (40-50 mph) could result in widespread travel delays.
Rain showers and occasional gusts to 65 km/h (40 mph) are expected across northwestern France, southwestern England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland where some minor travel impacts are possible.
Another storm quickly approaching on Friday will target areas from Wales and England southward through western France and northern Spain with rain and potentially damaging winds.
Gusts of 65-80 km/h (40-50 mph) will be common across the region with hardest hit locations seeing winds exceed 100 km/h (62 mph).
Areas currently with the greatest risk of damaging winds on Friday include northwester Spain, northwestern France and southwestern England.
By Saturday, a third storm will once again put all of western Europe at risk for travel disruptions as rain and strong winds resume.
Locations across southern England and northern France will be at greatest risk for winds capable of producing travel disruption and power outages. Widespread gusts over 65 km/h (40 mph) are expected with localized gusts over 100 km/h (62 mph).
Related:
United Kingdom Weather Center
France Weather Center
Spain Weather Center
A fourth storm in as many days will then target western Europe, with the greatest threat for damaging winds once again across southern England and France. The potential for strong winds with localized travel disruption could expand southward through Spain as well.
“Each of these storms will pose the threat for power outages, transportation delays and flooding,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Dangerous seas will be a constant across the Bay of Biscay, Celtic Sea and English Channel from Thursday through the weekend.
“Coastal flooding at high tide is also possible from northern Portugal to western Ireland and southwestern England on Thursday and Thursday night,” added Roys.
The potential exists for at least one of these storms to organize into a widespread damaging wind storm which could impact several countries. If those impacts are significant enough in the U.K., the name Doris could be given to the storm making it the fourth named storm of the season.
AccuWeather meteorologists are currently most concerned with the time period from Saturday through Sunday for a potential widespread damaging wind event which may include the southern U.K. and France.
The exact track and intensity of these storms will result in significant differences in the expected weather impacts so check back for updates in the coming days.