Brits’ hopes of escaping the cold and depressing weather in the UK for the sunny coasts of Spain have been ruined over the past few weeks as the country has been battered by wet and windy weather. Now, experts have issued a major weather update for the country.
According to meteorologists at El Tiempo, the rains are finally coming to an end from Monday, thanks to an anticyclone that will “act as a shield against new Atlantic storms”. The country has seen the last of Storm Martinho, with the heaviest showers falling over the weekend in Galicia, Extremadura, Madrid, parts of Toledo, and the Pyrenees. This week, luckily, will see very few showers and a “much more stable” period.
On the Costa del Sol the latter half of the week is expected to be full of sunshine, while temperatures will surge back into the 20s, The Olive Press reported, bringing an end to what it called a stretch of “miserable” weather.
It comes after forecasters this week predicted April will be “warmer than usual” this year.
Spain has experienced one of the wettest Marches on record. There have been four named storms in just 12 days, with two of both striking last week – Laurence and Martinho.
At least three people were killed by Storm Laurence in Andalusia, while hundreds of people were evacuated across Malaga, Marbella, Sevilla and elsewhere due to flooding. In Madrid, authorities were forced to open a dam for a period of time to relieve pressure ahead of Storm Martinho hitting the capital.
Huge swathes of the country were put under yellow, even orange, weather warnings last Thursday (March 20), for all sorts of bad weather, including high winds, rough seas, storms and heavy rain.
Spain’s state weather agency, Aemet, said on X ahead of the latest storm: “Storm Martinho will bring very strong wind gusts on Thursday. Wind speeds could exceed 100 km/h [62 mph] in the mountains of the northern Iberian Peninsula.
“It will also bring heavy rain to areas that have already seen significant rainfall: the Central System and western Andalusia. Beware of flooding.”
In coastal areas, winds of force eight or nine were expected, with eaves of five to seven metres. In areas with orange wind warnings, maximum gusts of 68 mph were expected, with 50 mph for those under yellow warnings.
Heavy rains also brought in yellow warnings with accumulated precipitation of 20 millimetres in one hour, or 40 millimetres in 12 hours. Some regions even faced unseasonable snow.