Spain hit by severe weather after months without rain

Bad weather following months of drought. Part of Spain was placed on meteorological alert on Tuesday, May 30, due to a major rainy episode affecting the Iberian Peninsula. Waterspouts have caused occasional flooding in recent days.

These heavy rains particularly affected the South-East regions, including the provinces of Almeria and Alicante, with numerous thunderstorms recorded on Saturday and Sunday. Torrential rains also fell on Madrid, in particular on Monday evening, causing the cutting of certain roads and delays on several metro lines. In places, these were affected by impressive water infiltrations.

The Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) kept part of the territory on Tuesday in yellow or orange vigilance, due in particular to a risk of hail, thunderstorms and violent gales. According to the same source, this rainy episode should continue over the next few days.

Rains too late to fight drought

This should allow a “significant positive contribution to the rainfall deficit” from which Spain has been suffering for months, affected by a historic drought. According to specialists, these torrential rains are nevertheless insufficient and too late to put an end to the deficit from which the water tables and the water reservoirs of the country suffer.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition, these reservoirs saw their level drop to 47.5% of their capacity during the last week of May, against 47.7% the previous week. This represents almost 20 points less than the average for the last ten years at the same time (68.1%).

According to Aemet, Spain experienced the hottest and driest month in April since weather records began in the country. This heat wave followed several months of drought, after a year 2022 considered to be the hottest in the country’s recent history.