The worst of the weather has moved out the way now. Heavy rain which reminded me of the 20th February 2010 where we had rain and flooding all morning. Probably the most rain we have had for a very long time.
By 2:30 PM on Tuesday, December 9th, six aircraft bound for Madeira had been diverted due to bad weather.
The first aircraft was from the airline easyJet, which departed from Porto and diverted to Faro Airport. According to a passenger, who preferred not to be identified, the aircraft returned to Porto. She explained that they were on the plane for about 2 hours in Faro: “Without letting us get off, or eat, nothing. A disgrace. We’re going back to Porto again later,” she said.
Another passenger reported that they had to wait for a crew change. “We’re here inside waiting for another crew, we’re going back to Porto, and there’s still no solution in sight for getting to Funchal.”
Two TAP aircraft originating from Lisbon also had to return to their airport of origin.
Three aircraft diverted to Tenerife airport – two from TUI (Stuttgart and Dusseldorf) and one from Edelweiss (Zurich).
At that moment, three planes were waiting for an opening to be able to land on Madeiran soil.
In addition to the diverted flights, there are also reports of several delays in arrivals at Madeira airport.
As previously reported by DIÁRIO, between 12:00 and 15:00 the warning for heavy rain for the south coast and mountainous regions of Madeira will be upgraded to yellow. The forecast indicates persistent, and sometimes heavy, precipitation, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms.
IPMA maintains the yellow warning for heavy rain on the north coast of Madeira, valid between 6 am and 3 pm today.
It should be noted that, according to the weather station of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) located in Santa Catarina/airport, the wind reached a gust of 68 km/h at 8 am today.