The record-breaking precipitation event of December 2022 in Portugal

Ferreira, Tiago M.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Gaspar, Tomás H.; Pinto, Joaquim G.; Ramos, Alexandre M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-609-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-609-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-609-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

Research article

|

11 Feb 2025

Research article |

| 11 Feb 2025

The record-breaking precipitation event of December 2022 in Portugal

Tiago M. Ferreira, Ricardo M. Trigo, Tomás H. Gaspar, Joaquim G. Pinto, and Alexandre M. Ramos

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-609-2025-supplement

Data sets

DWD Analysis Archive, Soil Analysis German Weather Service https://www.wetter3.de/archiv_dwd_dt.html

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Copernicus Climate Change Service https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Model code and software

EuLerian Identification of ascending AirStreams (ELIAS 2.0) in Numerical Weather Prediction and Climate Models J. Quinting and C. M. Grams https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5154980

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Short summary

We investigate the synoptic evolution associated with the occurrence of an atmospheric river that led to a 24 h record-breaking extreme precipitation event (120.3 mm) in Lisbon, Portugal, on 13 December 2022. The synoptic background allowed the formation, on 10 December, of an atmospheric river associated with a deep extratropical cyclone and with a high moisture content and an inflow of moisture, due to the warm conveyor belt, throughout its life cycle. The system made landfall on 12 December.