This month is already the wettest March in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol in the last 20 years

Ignacio Lillo

Malaga

Saturday, 22 March 2025, 09:47

That it has rained a lot in Malaga in the last 20 days is hardly news to anyone. But to what extent? Memories are short and we tend to soon forget previous episodes, even recent, which left even more rainfall than this. However, that's what Spain's state agency Aemet's historical records are for, and they leave several conclusions.

The first is that the rains of March 2025 already have attained second place on the podium of the wettest episodes since records began. Official statistics date back to 1942, and since that year, the wettest March according to the Malaga Airport's rain gauge (which is the one used for statistical purposes) was 2004, with 269.7mm. This year's is already the second.

Second conclusion: With ten days to go, this March is already the wettest in the last 20 years. Up to the 20th of this month the rain gauge at the Malaga Airport weather station had already recorded 225.8mm. This is already more than the 221.8mm that were collected in the same month in 2022. This had until now been the second highest figure, and has now been relegated to third.

Additionally, as Jesús Riesco, director of the Aemet meteorological centre in Malaga, reminds us, there are still several days of rain ahead of us this weekend. So the amount will be even greater than it is now. In fact, José Luis Escudero, head of the SUR weather blog, 'Tormentas y Rayos', has included in his calculations the downpour that fell during Thursday night and early Friday morning, to make a total of 227.4mm, with 16 days of rainfall (in 2004 there were 19).

«It's going to be difficult to reach the 2004 record,» admitted Jesús Riesco. «It will continue to rain but less». He is referring to Malaga city and specifically to the rain gauge at the airport, which is the one that plays the key role in the meteorological studies. «In the inland areas it is going to rain a little more, but not much». So he concluded: «We can already say that the historical record will not be broken and we are going to be in second place behind the one in 1942».

There is a third issue worth analysing, and that is that, as can be seen, March is an increasingly rainy month in Malaga. This is an observation that Aemet has been pointing out for several years now, and all the records have been set in this 21st century. Since the historical maximum, in 2004 (269.7mm), also noteworthy are 2011 (122.6); 2013 (112.3); 2018 (193.4); 2020 (149.3); 2022 (221.8); 2024 (143.1) and 2025 (until yesterday, 227.4mm ). It should not be forgotten that the historical average for this month is 60mm, which has been doubled and tripled on several occasions in recent years.

When asked about this, Jesús Riesco explained: «This has been the case in recent years. The problem is that it is not yet clear that this will be consolidated over time». At the moment, in the last 20 years, this trend towards wetter than normal waves has been observed, but the meteorologist noted that it is still too early to say whether this trend will continue in the future or whether it is a one-off occurrence.

In fact, the theory is that, on the other hand, the months of October and November are increasingly less wet, but last year this pattern was broken with the entry of two almost consecutive 'Danas'. «It is true that there has been a shift in a few years, but it is very difficult to attribute it to something specific».