ARCHIVED - Gota fría storms heading for the Costa Cálida this week

The Region of Murcia is already on yellow alert from Wednesday evening onwards

The State meteorological agency Aemet has issued a special weather warning for the week beginning Monday 9^th September to alert members of the public to the arrival in eastern Spain of an isolated high altitude depression (known in Spanish by the acronym DANA) of the kind which can cause torrential “gota fría” storms, the expectation being that it is likely to arrive in the Region of Murcia and the Costa Cálida by Wednesday evening.

The DANA will reach north-eastern Spain on Monday evening, when red alerts have been issued on the coast of Catalunya, and work its way southwards along the Mediterranean coastline during Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing with it the possibility of extremely heavy storms. By Wednesday the likelihood is that it will become stationary between the south-east of Spain and the northern coast of Africa, remaining there at least until Friday 13^th September before, in all probability, weakening and retreating northwards as the weekend begins.

In this context all of the Mediterranean regions of eastern Spain are likely to be affected, including Catalunya, the Balearics, the Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia, and although the exact locations of cloudbursts are impossible to forecast Aemet are warning that rainfall of at least 100 millimetres is a possibility throughout this very large area, including episodes in which as much as 60 millimetres could fall in a very short time, accompanied by wind gusting up to gale force.

Quoted in regional newspaper La Opinión, Luis Bañón of Aemet states that this particular gota fría appears to be an "exceptionally powerful” one: the developments of the next few days will determine whether his warning is justified!

As ever with weather phenomena of this kind, it is important to remember that the situation can alter rapidly and members of the public are advised to keep up to date with the latest developments and forecasts: Murcia Today will be publishing the latest Aemet warnings as and when they become available.

Image: The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), image shows forecast for Thursday

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