Spain This Tuesday enters the “most adverse phase” of the episode of intense rains which began on Monday and will last at least until Thursday, although it is possible that it will last over the weekend, according to Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), which has issued a special notice emphasizing the danger of the situation for the Mediterranean slope due to torrential rains, that is, more than 60 liters per square meter in one hour. In fact, Aemet has raised the maximum at eight in the morning to red, the rain warning in the Valencian Communitywhere on the southern coast of Valencia they have accumulated already 90 liters in just one hour.

The warning is orange – the second level of a scale of three – in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia and yellow – the minimum – in Aragón, the Balearic Islands, Castilla y León, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid. This intense autumn watering arrives accompanied by hailwhich has been the incredible size of an egg in El Ejido (Almería), where it has destroyed greenhouses, flooded roads and damaged hundreds of vehicles, in addition to strong gusts of wind that have exceeded the hurricane threshold, that is, more than 120 kilometers per hour, and poor sea conditions, with waves of three to five meters. Civil Protection asks the population to stay informed of the weather forecast and to stay away from river beds, boulevards and low flood areas.

Rainfall was already abundant in the first 12 hours of Monday, with more than 100 liters per square meter collected in points in the Balearic Islands and the north of the Valencian Community. Since Monday afternoon and last night, it has worsened around the Strait, areas of eastern Andalusia, the southeast of Castilla-La Mancha, especially the province of Albacete, and Murcia. Thus, 132 liters have been collected in Dólar (Granada), 82 in Guadix (Granada) and 78 in Málaga. Wind gusts have reached 152 kilometers per hour in Sierra Nevada and 100 in Mazarrón (Murcia).

“This Tuesday will probably be the most adverse day of the episode, with very intense and persistent rains around the Strait, eastern Andalusia, Murcia, southeast of Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community,” explains Del Campo. In these areas, 120 to 150 liters per square meter may be exceeded in less than 24 hours, quantities that may generate flooding of boulevards and ravines that usually flow with little water, as well as flooding in low-lying areas. It will also rain in the rest of the south, east and center of the Peninsula, but with less intensity, that is, in all of Spain except for the northern third.

On Wednesday, the heaviest rainfall will be recorded especially in western Andalusia and in the Strait area. “In Andalusia, rainfall will move to the west and, on the other hand, there will also be abundant rains around the Iberian system – the south of Aragon and the north of the Valencian Community – and in Catalonia,” the expert advances. On the warning map, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and the Valencian Community will be in orangewhile Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Castilla y León, Navarra and La Rioja will be in yellow.

On Thursday and Friday “the heaviest rains will move towards the west of the Peninsula and will affect areas of Extremadura and western Andalusia, with showers in the Mediterranean somewhat less intense than in previous days.” Looking ahead to the weekend, Del Campo considers it “likely that instability will increase again in the Mediterranean area and heavy rainfall will be repeated.”

Temperatures “will generally remain at values ​​typical of this time of year, or slightly higher,” while snowfall will occur at high altitudes, especially in the Sierra Nevada. The Canary Islands will be left out of the situationalthough “weak rains will occur in the north of the archipelago.”

The cause of this episode is a dana (an isolated depression at high levels of the atmosphere), which already left rain last weekend and which has given rise, as Aemet explains in its note, “to a cyclogenesis at low levels causing a surface low around the Alboran Sea, evolving into an isolated cold storm.” As a consequence, the Levante wind has intensified in much of the Mediterranean area, which has favored the arrival of a large amount of humidity to the east of the peninsula.