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Date Published: 03/12/2024

Drought, floods and fires: How Murcia's weather is becoming more extreme

The Region of Murcia has battled 17 extreme rain episodes in the last 25 years

The Region of Murcia is no stranger to extreme weather events, but a new study has shed light on the unpredictable nature of climate change and its impact on the Region's weather patterns. What few people realise is that would have taken very little for the recent DANA of October 29 to shift course and place the Region of Murcia at its epicentre rather than Valencia.

These catastrophic scenarios have hit the Region before, and they could easily do so again.

A new report has revealed that the Region has experienced 17 extreme rainfall events due to DANAs, or sudden cold drops, in the last quarter of a century. The areas most affected by these events so far this century are the Campo de Cartagena and the Mar Menor coast (52.9%), Águilas and Mazarrón (17.6%), the Vega Media and Baja del Segura (11.8%), the Guadalentín region (11.8%) and the Northwest (5.9%).

But while extreme weather events are the ones that get all the media coverage, Jorge Olcina, director of the Climatology Laboratory at the University of Alicante and co-author of the report, points out other, more subtle effects of global warming in the Region of Murcia: a warmer and less comfortable climate where summers reach maximum temperatures 1.8 degrees above the records of the beginning of the 20th century; and irregular rainfall leading to devastating drought.

After the downpours in October, local governments around the country updated their risk assessments and it was found that the Region of Murcia has an incredible 758 critical risk points for flooding. The problem is concentrated in cities and built-up areas where a glut of concrete and asphalt means there’s little or no water drainage. The damaging results have been seen again and again during times of heavy rain in the likes of Murcia, Cartagena, Lorca, Totana, Alhama, Jumilla, Águilas, Mazarrón, San Javier or Los Alcázares, among others.

Aside from the potential loss of life, the study also reveals that economic losses due to flooding events are on the rise in the Region of Murcia. The damage and value of economic losses associated with catastrophes caused by excess runoff have been growing constantly since the 1960s, with the period 1994-2022 seeing claims and compensation reach more than 400 million euros.

Drought risk

At the same time, the researchers also point out that climate change is aggravating the risks of drought, aridity and desertification in the Region of Murcia. Each year, periods of drought are becoming longer, while wet periods tend to be shorter but more intense.

This naturally leads to a heightened risk of forest fires.

The researchers stress the need to adapt risk management strategies to this new reality of climate change, taking into account flood areas in territorial and urban planning, and investing more in prevention, hydrological-forestry correction projects, early warning systems and civil protection measures.

Find all the latest weather and climate change news here or join our Murcia Weather Watch Facebook group for regular updates

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