As a result of the passage of two danas – isolated high-elevation lows, a bubble of air high in the atmosphere – Spain is piling up so much rain this week that the Met Office is wondering where it’s gone from your water. “While the UK stays dry, keep an eye on the weather forecast when holidaying in southern Europe. “Parts of Spain can get a month’s rainfall in a day or two,” he warned. the agency on Thursday. This has been the case in the last few hours, in which 198 liters per square meter have been collected in Castellón, 150 of them in just two hours, the highest figure in May, while 220 have been reached in Benicàssim. “There’s no precedent for anything like that outside of the fall months,” underlines the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). And it will remain so for the next few days, because this weekend, when municipal elections are held across Spain and regional elections in 12 municipalities, the unstable weather continues with showers over most of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands that can in some cases severe and accompanied by gales and hail, and temperatures are generally low for the time of year except in the extreme north where they are higher than normal.
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Numerous torrential showers – 10 liters per square meter in 10 minutes or 60 liters per hour, occasionally accompanied by hail – were recorded in the east of the peninsula, the Balearic Islands and places in the central area on Thursday afternoon. Rubén del Campo, spokesman for the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet), highlights the 17 liters in just 10 minutes in Utiel (Valencia) and the 11 in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) and Porreras (Mallorca). ) . And in Molina de Segura (Murcia), a gargoyle caused serious damage and the rescue of at least 15 people.
For this Friday, Aemet expects practically extensive rains on the peninsula, with the situation in large areas, notably in Castile and León, the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, unfavorable due to heavy rains that could exceed 15ºC can be 20 liters in an hour or 40 in 12. The warning is orange, the second of the three existing levels, until 10am in the Valencian Community, while it is yellow, the lowest level, in Castilla y León, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura and Madrid.
On Saturday “the influence of the low pressure that will be west of Portugal” will continue and it will again be a day of showers and storms that can occur in most parts of the territory except the north-east. As such, it is unlikely to rain in Navarra, La Rioja, Aragon and Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, while the heaviest rainfall is expected in Andalucia, southern Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and inland Galicia. There are yellow warnings in Andalusia, Castile and León, Extremadura and Galicia.
Temperatures will drop in the southern third and rise in the northern half. “Bilbao, Logroño, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Lleida and Girona will be around 30°, while Murcia and Seville will barely reach 25°. “There will be temperatures between 5° and 10° above normal in the far north and between 5° and 10° below normal in much of the southern half,” explains the Aemet spokesman.
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Sunday, the day of the vote, will be another day of rain and stormy showers that will spread over large areas, most intensely in southern Galicia, in the western end of Castilla y León and in the south of the Valencian Community. “The least likely they will happen will be on the Cantabrian coast, in the Ebro Valley, in eastern Catalonia and on the southern tip of the peninsula,” completes Del Campo’s forecast. Currently there is only one warning in the Valencian Community. Temperatures “will drop slightly in the city center and remain unchanged elsewhere.” Thus, one day it will be “hot again in the northern third, where it can be over 27° in Pamplona, Logroño, Zaragoza and Lleida, and cooler in.” the center and south.” Madrid will barely break the 20° mark, Seville will stay around 23° and Granada around 24°.
The situation will not change next week, which starts with similar weather: showers in large parts of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands. The greatest probability and intensity of precipitation this time will be in the northern and eastern halves, while the southwest, Extremadura and western Andalusia will be more peripheral. “Temperatures will tend to rise, although the warm environment in the northern third lasts throughout the season and remains cooler in the central zone and southern half. Only 25° is exceeded in the Ebro valley, at points on the Bay of Biscay and Catalonia, in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys and in the extreme south-east,” emphasizes Del Campo.
This situation could also continue in the second half of the week, when the meteorological summer begins on Thursday, June 1st, so the season “will not start with hot and dry weather”. The forecast for the next three weeks continues to bring good news: a trend of precipitation above normal and temperatures below normal until at least mid-June.
A regime of light breezes and winds is expected in the Canary Islands for the next few days, with possible showers, especially in the interior of the islands, with greater relief, becoming more intense from midday. The temperatures will hardly change, in the early afternoon the values are close to 25°.
Another dry May
These plentiful rains in some parts of the country somewhat reduced the rainfall deficit in May, but they do not remotely solve the month’s balance sheet or the situation of the prolonged drought that Spain is suffering. From day 1 to May 23, 25 liters per square meter had fallen. “Until then, it’s still a dry month, but it’s already rainier than May 2022, when it fell just 20 liters,” says Del Campo.
“As of May 23, Spain continues to suffer from a 27% rainfall deficit since the water year began on October 1. With a normal value of 508″, 371 liters fell, adds the Aemet spokesman. “We will see whether the precipitation of the last few days and that which will fall by the end of May will ensure that spring 2023 will not be the driest in the historical series,” concludes the expert.