meteorology

Commenting on the heavy rains, Ester Brito from the country's meteorology institute told Reuters news agency that the weather conditions were uncommon.

But the answer also lies in the tricky nature of meteorology.

"The observatory is astronomy, it is also meteorology, and after many years I feel like I'm part of the brickwork."

It's a view shared by Alan Sealls, a former TV weatherman who now teaches meteorology at the University of South Alabama, and consults as a forensic meteorologist, providing weather analysis for legal cases.

The technology has been around since the 1970s when it was used in meteorology, but is now used by autonomous vehicles to sense surroundings.