What will the weather be like on Christmas Day and for the rest of the week in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol?
Much of the mainland will experience a similar outlook to the province over the coming festive period, according to Spain's state weather agency (Aemet)
Spain's big Christmas lottery draw yesterday (22 December) kicks off the festive period for many people in which the weather will play a key role in the thousands of holiday travel journeys made at this time of the year. On the Costa del Sol and across Malaga province no major changes in the weather are expected over the next few days, so the likelihood of rain is almost zero, according to the state weather agency (Aemet).
During this weekend, as well as on Christmas Eve (Sunday 24 December) and Christmas Day the skies will remain clear, and the winds will blow light and variable. Aemet expects both Saturday and Sunday to have a minimum temperature of ten degrees and a maximum of 18C in Malaga city, while on Monday the mercury will register between eight degrees and the expected maximum of 19C. On Tuesday 26th the maximum temperature will reach 20C, while the minimum is forecast to drop slightly to seven degrees.
Rest of Spain
The situation will be very similar in the rest of the country, with clear skies throughout the mainland until Monday.
Maximum temperatures will increase in the Pyrenees and the Iberian System and there will be decreases in the west of Castilla y León, the Middle Ebro, Catalonia and Levante, while minimum temperatures will fall especially in the north and northeast of the Iberian peninsula. Frosts will continue to affect the two plateaus and mountain systems. The wind will blow strongly from the northwest in the eastern Cantabrian Sea, Ebro, Valencia and Bajo Ebro areas. In the Canary Islands, the wind will blow easterly.
On Sunday 24 December, the weather will remain anticyclonic with clear skies, except in areas of both plateaus and the Ebro Valley, where fog may be persistent, especially in the latter two regions. In the Canary Islands, rainfall will continue in the eastern islands, although of lesser intensity, with slightly cloudy skies in the eastern islands.
Maximum temperatures will be on the rise in mountainous areas of the northern half and on the decline in lower areas of these regions. Winds will be generally light and weak in north-western areas.
Rain to end the year
Next week will start with the same anticyclonic situation and, therefore, the weather will remain very similar although the presence of a strong Atlantic front from Tuesday onwards will leave light rainfall in areas of the northwest and a change of weather in the middle of next week in the northern half of the Spanish mainland.
Therefore, on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 December, an Atlantic front is likely to cross the country from northwest to southeast, giving rise to very cloudy or overcast skies as it passes and leaving some rain, more intense in the extreme northwest and unlikely in the extreme southeast. It could be in the form of snow on Thursday in mountain areas in the northern half of the mainland and temperatures are likely to rise.
Winds will be from the southwest on Wednesday, stronger in the northwest quadrant and the eastern third of the Spanish mainland. In the Canary Islands, winds are likely to be easterly, without ruling out light precipitation in the northeast of the more mountainous islands.
On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 December, the most likely scenario is that new fronts, more active than the previous one, will cross the Spanish mainland from northwest to southeast. Rain could be heavier in Galicia and unlikely in the southeast.
With some degree of uncertainty, the snow level could drop below 1,200 metres in the northern third of the country at the end of the week, with stronger winds from the southwest. In the Canary Islands, light winds are expected, without ruling out some light precipitation to the northeast of the more mountainous islands.
