The Spanish Plume (Penacho Ibérico in Spanish and Spaanse Pluim in Dutch) is a weather pattern in which a plume of warm air moves from the

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

n plateau or the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

northwestern Europe Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The term is used in geographic, history, and military contexts. Geographic definitions Geographically, Northwestern ...

, causing

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

s. This meteorological pattern can lead to extreme high temperatures and intense rainfall during the summer months, with potential for

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

ing, damaging

hail Hail is a form of solid Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailsto ...

, and

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

formation. Some of these intense thunderstorms are formed from

thermal low Thermal lows, or heat lows, are non- frontal low-pressure areas that occur over the continents in the subtropics during the warm season, as the result of intense heating when compared to their surrounding environments.Glossary of Meteorology (200 ...

s, which are also known as heat lows. Thermal lows can be semipermanent features around some parts of Europe, particularly in the summer season. These thermal lows can be developed or created around Spain, Portugal, France, etc., during the summer season because of the intense heat. Thermal low pressure can be located around the world, particularly in the summer or in tropical regions.

Notable occurrences

* 1788, 13 July, a

hailstorm Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

sweeps across France and the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

with hailstones 'as big as quart bottles' that take 'three days to melt'; immense damage is done. * 1896, 10 September Paris Tornado. * 1897, 24 July saw thunderstorms disrupt the celebrations of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. * 1955, 18 July a Spanish Plume brought a record amount of rain on one day to Martinstown Dorset, with slow-moving thunderstorms bringing 279mm of rainfall. A record which stood for over 50 years until the 2009 Cumbria floods. * 1958, 5 September

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

storm, heaviest hailstone recorded in the UK (190g). * 1959, 9 July

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

storm. the first in the world to be identified as a

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (su ...

. * 1961, 12 August synoptic set-up of a Spanish Plume, however dry ground conditions in France led to little evaporation which led to lack of moisture in the air to fuel cloud and storm formation. * 1968, 2 July

July 1968 England and Wales dust fall storms July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Roman general Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., being the month of his birth. Before then it was called ...

– the plume had the highest

mineral dust Mineral dust is particulate, atmospheric aerosol originated from the suspension (chemistry), suspension of minerals constituting the soil, composed of various oxides and carbonates. Human activities lead to 25% of the fugitive dust, airborne du ...

content recorded for over 200 years and caused major thunderstorms and

rain dust Rain dust or snow dust, traditionally known as muddy rain, red rain, or coloured rain, is a variety of rain (or any other form of precipitation) which contains enough mineral dust, from soils (particularly from deserts), for the dust to be visib ...

across England. * 1968, 10 July

Chew Stoke flood of 1968 Chew Stoke Flood was a heavy rain event and severe flash flood which occurred on 10 July 1968, affecting Somerset and Southwest England in particular the Chew Valley and some areas of Bristol, notably Bedminster. The River Chew suffered a maj ...

Chew Stoke Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the affluent Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about south of Bristol and 10 miles north of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, ...

floods and

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

tornado in Germany. * 1975, 14 July. Hailstorm in the Midlands. * 1983, 25–26 July. Three Mesoscale Convective Systems over West France with Severe thunderstorm, heavy rain and Hailstorm * 1985, 26 May East Anglia. MyBlitzortungStrikeMap090614

* 1992, 20–21 July Severe thunderstorms over south-east England. *1994, 24 June, Severe storms move from northern France and across south-eastern England. * 1995, 9 September A tornado was generated in the

Rhine Valley Rhine Valley (German: ''Rheintal'' ) is the valley, or any section of it, of the river Rhine in Europe. Particular valleys of the Rhine or any of its sections: * Alpine Rhine Valley ** Chur Rhine Valley (or Grisonian Rhine Valley; , or sometimes ...

, Germany. * 1996, 7 June damaging hail storms across England from Lyme Bay to the Wash. * 1997, 7 June A

Bow echo A bow echo is the characteristic radar return from a mesoscale convective system that is shaped like an archer's bow. These systems can produce severe straight-line winds and occasionally tornadoes, causing major damage. They can also become ...

formed over France before passing over Belgium and the Netherlands. * 2003, 5–6 August * 2004, 3–5 August severe thunderstorms affected London and South East England and caused a lightning strike on the track on the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south wes ...

Earlsfield Earlsfield is an area within the London Borough of Wandsworth, London, England. It is a typical south London suburb and comprises mostly residential Victorian terraced houses with a high street of shops, bars, and restaurants between Garratt Lan ...

which blew the signals out causing severe delays and later caused flooding near

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

on the

District Line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines), Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One br ...

on 4 August. * 2011, 18 August a severe storm battered the

Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the v ...

festival in Belgium. This situation shows some similarities with the Spanish Plume. * 2012, 10 May high temperatures reported in south of England with a tornado in Belgium reaching 100 mph gusts in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. * 2012, 28 June supercells in UK and Belgium, disrupted the

2012 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 19 May until 27 July, prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, London 2012 Summer Olympics. The torch bearer selection process was announced on 18 May 2011. As well as touring the United Kingdom the ...

and brought chaos to

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. *2013, 26–27 July A

Mesoscale convective system A mesoscale convective system (MCS) is a complex of thunderstorms that becomes organized on a scale larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones, and normally persists for several hours or more. A mesoscale conv ...

developed in France and moved across the Netherlands and northern Germany, a gust of 102 mph was recorded at

Pauillac Pauillac (; ) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Population Acces ...

, France from the storm. Smaller scale thunderstorms developed in the UK. *2014, 7–11 June Pentecost weekend storms in Europe brought disruptive conditions across France, Belgium and Germany where 6 fatalities were recorded as a

Bow Echo A bow echo is the characteristic radar return from a mesoscale convective system that is shaped like an archer's bow. These systems can produce severe straight-line winds and occasionally tornadoes, causing major damage. They can also become ...

swept through

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

with winds up to 144 km/h. *2014, 17–21 July severe storms left at least two fatalities in France, with power cut to thousands of homes and localised flooding occurring in France and the United Kingdom. *2015, 30 June–4 July A plume brought high temperatures from Spain across France and the UK. In France some July temperature records were set, and in the UK some all time maxima were set in some locations. Severe thunderstorms also moved northwards across the UK on 1 July and again overnight 3–4 July. *2016, 6–7 June A Spanish plume event brought extensive thunderstorm activity across the UK and Ireland, resulting in the hospitalisation of a man and his children after being struck by lightning in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

Similar regional set-ups

Mexican Plume

A similar pattern, though on a larger scale, is the Mexican plume in the south west USA, where hot dry air from the Mexican highlands acts as a cap to convection until lifted over Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Eastern Baltic

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

meteorologists have observed a situation conducive to severe summer storm development which occurs when a warm moist air mass flows into the region from the south or south east under the influence of an upper-level trough. These conditions have some similarities to the Spanish plume. The synoptic conditions see a low over southern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, bringing warm south and southwesterly flows of air up from the inner continental areas of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Animated descriptions of Spanish plume

*
BBC Weather: Spanish Plume, what is it and how does it form with Darren Bett

BBC Weather Player 'Spanish Plume' brings rain to the UK

References

{{Reflist Severe weather and convection Weather hazards