Most residents along the Costa Tropical expected a thunderstorm, but nobody, not even the meteorologists expected a mini tornado, which is supposedly what visited Salobreña and Motril, according to various TV channels.

Whatever skipped across the area, material damage was slight, mostly ranging between damaged trees along paseos and some minor roof and singe damage. The Alleged tornado materialised around 08.50am and then wandered off into the vega of Salobreña.

For an explanation, the website cazatormentas.net provides quite a surprising satellite image with the following explanation:

In the AEMET image of air masses, we can see in our surrounding area different cloud formations from those around it. Above the peninsular there is an occluded front whilst towards the South-West, in the sea area of San Vincente, we can see the centre of the rainfall and behind it, a strong cold discharge, associated with the Jet Stream over the Mar de Alboran. Said clouds are cumulous and cumulonimbus which are made by vertical air movement, provoking intense cloud bursts and storms.”

Anyway, cazatormentas.net (stormchasers) concluded that unless somebody can come up with a photograph of a typical tornado funnel, then what hit the area was a ‘squall line,’ in this case a curved storm front, provoked by fluctuation of the Jet Stream, in itself caused by it hitting a storm front, dumping masses of cold air in the lower atmosphere stratas.

As the squall line moved over Salobreña the temperature dropped suddenly by 3.5 C¬∫ and an equally dramatic rise in atmospheric pressure (3.5hPa). 70 kph winds pushed out from the squall line.

So, there you go, when somebody says, did you here about the tornado yesterday morning, tell them it was a downburst provoked by a squall line, and as they push you over a beer in admiration, add, “When a tornado goes by, atmospheric pressures drops drastically, where in the case of Salobreña it did exactly the opposite.

(News: Salobreña/Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)