Malaga province with yellow warning for rain on Wednesday

The forecast in Malaga province predicts several consecutive days of rain. The yellow warning between Sunday and Monday morning was only matched by poorly distributed rainfall. The Sierra de Mijas was the epicentre of the rain, while more moderate rainfall was recorded in Cártama, Malaga, Cañete la Real and Fuente de Piedra. However, unofficial reports have pointed to Alhaurín de la Torre, the east of Malaga city, Benalmádena and Rincón de la Victoria as other locations where rainfall worth mentioning was recorded.

The next yellow warning is in place for Wednesday, with a 70% probability of rain.

The yellow alert on Wednesday will be active from 6am until 6pm. It concerns Malaga, the Guadalhorce, Costa del Sol and Ronda. On that day, 25mm in one hour and 60mm in 12 hours are expected.

The forecast on Tuesday, however, is for light rainfall, mostly in the afternoon. The cloudy skies will clear up after Thursday, right on time for Halloween celebrations.

The heat is finally subsiding in the province, after another hot weekend dominated by the 'terral' wind, with minimum nighttime temperatures above 20C. This week, the minimum temperature is expected to be around 17-18C, while a maximum of 23-24C is forecast.

The Sierra de Mijas - a strategic location due to the importance of the aquifers that also supply Torremolinos, Alhaurín de la Torre and Alhaurín el Grande - received 27.2mm of rainfall between Sunday and Monday morning. That was the most notable rainfall of the day. Far behind were the 11mm at Malaga Airport and Malaga El Cónsul; 8.1mm in Laguna de Fuente Piedra; 6.5 in El Atabal; 6.3 in Cañete La Real; 6.1 in Cártama; 4.8 in El Torcal; and 3 in La Encantada (El Chorro). The Serranía de Ronda and the Axarquia district were not blessed by rain.

SUR's weather expert José Luis Escudero's unofficial report shows slightly higher records: around 15mm in Limonar or Pedregalejo, which would mean that the yellow warning on Monday was not uncalled for. In addition, the Meteoclimatic network reported 14mm in Rincón de la Victoria and 20mm in Alhaurín de la Torre. According to Escudero, Benalmádena and Arroyo de la Miel received between 15mm and 18mm, respectively, on Monday.

According to Storm Málaga, the 11mm registered at the airport have put an end to the fifth driest period since 1942, with 138 days without rainfall. The absolute record remains 169 days, between April and September 2019. Other long dry periods were recorded in 2003, 1953 and 1958.

A cold front is expected in the province this Wednesday. As it is the beginning of the hydrological year, interest in the levels of rivers will increase. Runoff will begin to form if rainfall continues, which will determine their behaviour during potential torrential events. For the moment, only the 530 litres per second flowing in the Grande river are worth mentioning. The other notable rivers are leaning towards zero or just a few litres per second.

The rain between Sunday and Monday has not made significant changes to the province's reservoirs, which currently contain 279 million cubic metres (45% of their capacity). To put this in perspective, that is three times the level at this time last year, when, the 'danas' began. The first occurred on 29 October and caused the well-known tragedy in Valencia, although Malaga also suffered serious, mostly material, damage in the Guadalhorce area.