April on track to be driest on record in Spain, although light rain is forecast this weekend

Just five millimetres fell during the first 16 days of the month

SUR

Malaga

Friday, 21 April 2023, 10:53 | Updated 13:06h.

This April is on track to become the driest in Spain since records began in 1961, according to worrying weather forecasts.

Just five millimetres were accumulated throughout Spain during the first 16 days. The state meteorological agency (Aemet) said this was an “extraordinarily low” figure for this period which represented just 15% of the monthly average, which was 63.5 millimetres.

"With great probability this month we will probably not reach this average," Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo said.

Based on current forecasts for the rest of the month, April 2023 would end up being "the driest in the historical series, since 1961", he added.

The current record for the driest April was in 1995 when just 23 milimetres were measured.

A front expected to move from west to east could bring rain showers in Spain on Friday and Saturday. Ruben del Campo said it would not be persistent rainfall that was desperately needed but "it is at least possible that it will rain in many areas where it has not rained for more than a month", such as Madrid, where not a single drop has fallen since 8 March this year.

The front is expected to cause a drop in temperaturesbut later high pressure will return and again make rainfall scarce once the front has swept through.

“It is possible that the arrival of high pressure will be accompanied by a mass of warm air and very high for the season temperatures, which could exceed 30 degrees Celsius, not only in the south of the peninsula but also in the north and even 33 or 34 degrees in points in the south of the peninsula,” Ruben del Campo said.

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