Storm Alice: Aemet issues special warning for 'Dana' that will leave 'heavy and persistent rain' in Spain
Its effects will be felt from late this Wednesday until at least Sunday, according to the state weather agency which has warned of the danger of localised flash flooding
Spain's state meteorological agency (Aemet) has issued a special warning for "very heavy and persistent rainfall" which is expected to begin late this Wednesday 8 October and persist until at least Sunday.
According to Aemet, "an Atlantic trough with an associated cold mass at mid-levels will penetrate the western mainland and move eastwards to form several vortices within it over the next few days", giving rise to the storm Alice 'Dana'. Its impact will last for several days, leaving in its wake "very heavy and persistent rainfall" that will mainly affect the eastern third of the country and the Balearic Islands, with the area of greatest accumulated rainfall in the area around Cape Nao, particularly the coastal and pre-coastal areas of southern Valencia and northern Alicante.
The state meteorological agency points out that the level of potential danger is high because the showers may lead to local flash and sudden flooding in low-lying areas, streams and wadis.
The first showers are expected in the east of Castilla-La Mancha and inland Valencia, while from the early hours of (Thursday 9 October) they are expected to spread to coastal areas of Catalonia and Valencia, and throughout the day to Ibiza and Formentera, Murcia, the eastern half of Andalucía and southern Castilla-La Mancha, without ruling them out in other areas of Castilla-La Mancha, inland Catalonia and the central system. These showers are expected to be accompanied by thunderstorms and to reach strong, even locally very strong, intensity.
In Andalucía, Aemet has activated a yellow warning for rain and thunderstorms for Thursday in different parts of the provinces of Jaén, Almeria and Granada. It will begin at 11am and end at 11.59pm for accumulated rainfall of 15mm in one hour.
Although the warning does not affect Malaga or the Costa del Sol at the moment, the probability of showers in the province has existed since midday on Thursday and continues on Friday, with a greater probability during the morning and mainly in the easternmost part of the province, as José Luis Escudero pointed out on his SUR blog Tormentas y Rayos. During the weekend, no precipitation is forecast.
In fact, Aemet forecasts that on Friday the heavy showers will become less widespread and will be reduced to the southeast of the Spanish mainland, without ruling out the possibility of them reaching the rest of Alborán sea areas and the Balearic Islands, with the areas around the cape of La Nao and Cape Palos being the most likely to reach locally very heavy intensity. On Sunday, the Alice 'Dana' will gradually lose intensity.
The state meteorological agency warns, however, that there is a high uncertainty in the position of Alice and its interaction with the surface flows that will determine the areas with greater adversity each day, so it recommends a detailed monitoring of the updates of the forecasts and warnings over the next few days.
