Spain experienced strong winds, torrential rain and dangerous seas as the Storm Ana swept across the Iberian peninsula on Sunday.
The storm reached its peak on Sunday night but the bad weather is expected to continue until tomorrow (Tuesday). Winds reached speeds in excess of 140 km/h with the strongest gusts felt in the northwestern region of Galicia. Flights were rerouted from both Bilbao and Vigo in the north and cancellations were experienced at airports all across Spain. Even Málaga, in the south of Spain, was hit by abnormally strong winds and torrential rain.
On this morning, yellow and orange alerts were issued for high winds across much of Spain, as well as for stormy seas in coastal areas including around Ibiza and Formentera in the Balearic Islands. Also, due to the high winds which brought a blanket of snow to mountainous areas, ski stations were closed both in Sierra Nevada and the Pyrenees.
The storm, named Cyclone Ana by Spanish weather agency AEMET, sweeps in from the Atlantic Ocean to affect a large area of western Europe. It is the first time AEMET has named a storm, keeping with the global trend of women name and an alphabetical order for extreme weather incidents.
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