Malaga interior areas register 40mm of rain in one night

The weather forecast has been accurate. During the early hours of Wednesday morning, the first front of the isolated cold storm (BFA) brought widespread and heavy rainfall throughout Malaga province.

By 8am, the town of Alhaurín el Grande in the Guadalhorce Valley had registered the highest accumulation: 42mm, according to both public and private gauges. The municipalities of Mijas Pueblo and Villanueva de la Concepción followed closely behind, also exceeding 40mm.

Arroyo de la Miel (Benalmádena), Fuengirola, El Torcal, Cártama and Archidona recorded between 30 and 40mm. Even Malaga Airport has already accumulated more than 28mm. Almost the entire province has received exceptional rainfall due to its extensive reach: it's worth noting that the winter storms hit the Serranía de Ronda and the western Costa del Sol particularly hard.

Rain has also fallen heavily in the Axarquía district: 30mm in Alfarnate and more than 20mm in Alfarnatejo, Periana and Almáchar. Given these numbers, it is likely that the La Viñuela reservoir could reach its full capacity in the coming days.

The province expects more rain in the next few hours. Although the heaviest rainfall occurred between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Aemet (the state meteorological agency) has extended the yellow alert (low risk) until noon today. Also under a yellow alert until noon are the Costa del Sol, Malaga city, Guadalhorce and the Axarquía district.

Most residents will have felt the impact of the rain during the morning rush hours. Meteorologists predict that it will continue raining throughout the rest of the day, but with less intensity.

According to Aemet, this new wet episode is due to the arrival of an isolated cold low, which is similar to a 'dana' in its behaviour but different in characteristics.

The storm has been moving down the Atlantic towards the south-west of mainland Spain since Monday. "It's going to be with us practically all week," director of the Aemet centre Jesús Riesco says. It will cross from west to east along the south coast and bring "unstable weather" for almost the entire week.

Wednesday will see the start of a temperature rollercoaster, with a significant drop both in the interior of the province and along the coast. On the coast, maximum temperatures will be at least 4C lower, although minimum temperatures will not fall as much (thanks to cloudy skies). Meanwhile, the drop in the interior will be more pronounced, around 7C. Therefore, temperatures in Malaga city will not exceed 18C and will fall to 15C in the Antequera district, which is "below the normal values for this time of year".