Portugal’s weather service, and hundreds of locals, have confirmed that the Vale da Telha area of Aljezur was hit by a tornado in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 16 September.
The tornado hit at 05.20 and damaged a hotel, houses, trees and vehicles.
The tornado, accompanied by torrential rain and thunder, carried on to the north of Vale da Telha damaging properties, trees, electricity poles and vehicles in its path.
The weather was driven by a large depression to the north west of the country where a mass unstable hot and humid air was circulating. When this system hit land perfect conditions for the creation a tornado were created.
The last such incident registered in the Algarve was in April this year in Vilamoura where thunder was followed by an intense wind, creating a tornado which caused extensive damage to at least two houses leaving them uninhabitable and strewn with shattered glass.
Some large trees were topped with the gusts but there were no reported serious injuries despite flying glass at the damaged houses.
The last serious tornado to hit the Algarve was on November 16th 2012 which caused one death, injuries and extensive damage to property in Lagoa and Silves as it headed inland.
There was another smaller tornado that hit the riverside area of Tavira on April 17th 2013 which brought down several trees and caused damage to boats at the Club Náutico de Tavira.
