Tornados and other mobile vortexes of violently rotating winds are not an uncommon sight here in Mallorca. Here, these natural phenomena are called caps de fibló and quite often they lead to destruction and havoc. To be more precise, a tornado is called a cap de fibló in Mallorca when it hits land, whereas it is called a mànegue or a fiblon when it occurs out in the sea. You may remember that Mallorca suffered a series of very severe caps de fibló exactly two years ago in Palma, in Valldemossa and in the Andratx area causing massive destruction and damage including the loss of two lives.

I am telling you about caps de fibló today because last weekend (October 11th) there were some tornadoes spotted in Mallorca, in the Sóller area and near Andratx. In Portocolom a fiblon was sighted. Also, three weeks earlier, a cap de fibló hit the Balearic island of Formentera. Luckily, no major damage was reported on either occasion, nor were there any injuries suffered as far as I know.

Both photos was borrowed from the Internet. The photo (top) was taken in Formentera, Baleares, Spain. The date: September 20th, 2009. Credit is due to the catmeteo website and in particular, to montgros. The photo (bottom) was taken near Port de Sóller, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: October 11th, 2009. Credit is due to the meteofelanitx website and in particular, to Albert Darder.

Muchas gracias.