The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has named
Karlotta
the storm that it announced for the middle of this week and that will bring high wind intensity.
After Juan
's quick passage
three weeks ago, it is the eleventh deep storm to be baptized so far this season.
In these last three weeks, a powerful blocking anticyclone has reigned over the Peninsula, which has driven away the rain and raised temperatures to spring and even summer values.
Now, the anticyclone has weakened and moved south, allowing the approach of
Karlotta
and its associated carousel of fronts,
that will make the water return, but not the winter.
In the thermometers, “starting Thursday, spring will end and autumn will arrive.
Winter?
Maybe a little on the weekend and on Monday, with frost and a colder atmosphere.
But later, the temperate environment returns,” summarizes Rubén del Campo, Aemet spokesperson.
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Thus, it will rain where it has done most so far, in the west and the central zone, while the areas most in need of water, Catalonia and the southwest of Andalusia, will see very little.
These types of southwestern situations, typically autumnal, bring the so-called open or rainy winds, humid and temperate, which leave the most important accumulations in favorable areas such as the west and south of Galicia, the southern face of the Central system, in the west of Andalusia and also even on the south side of the Pyrenees.
Until Sunday, according to eltiempo.es, the models suggest that more than 150 liters per square meter could be collected in the west of Galicia, close to 100 in the north of Cáceres and in the Sierra de Grazalema (Cádiz) and more than 60 in other areas of the interior of Andalusia.
Water!!!!!!
pic.twitter.com/coXveDmFJd
— RAM Meteorology Fan Magazine (@RAM_meteo) February 6, 2024
The storm begins this Wednesday afternoon, when the high-impact storm will approach.
From early morning, its fronts “will begin to penetrate the northwest of the peninsula” and in the following days “rainfall will spread across the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands,” which will also give rise to “an episode of intense wind with a maritime storm.” “which will affect coastlines throughout the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands” and will probably last until Saturday the 10th,” warns Aemet in a special notice.
At the end of this day "the first effects of
Karlotta
are already expected on the Galician coast, with very strong gusts of wind from the southwest, as well as the first rainfall."
The entire coast of this community is under a warning for wind and coastal phenomena, but it is at the yellow level, the lowest.
🔴New storms with great impact for the 2023-24 season named by AEMET #BorrascaKarlotta
Check the warnings in force here 👇🏽https://t.co/BLdoSsO2Qv pic.twitter.com/use0CUgmO8
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) February 6, 2024
On Thursday, these rains will reach a large part of the western half of the peninsula, the central area and the extreme north of the peninsula, although "they are expected to be more intense and especially persistent in the west of Galicia, where they can exceed 80 liters in 12 hours".
The wind will hit the northwest quadrant of the peninsula with very strong gusts in large areas, which "will be especially intense on the Galician coasts", where they can exceed 100 kilometers per hour, accompanied by a strong sea storm, with waves that can reach seven meters.
Aemet also expects very strong gusts in other mountain systems in the northern half of the peninsula, to reach the Betic systems at the end of the day.
Fourteen autonomous communities - Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Community of Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja - will be under notice, with A Coruña in orange , the second level of a three-tier system, due to the danger of 80 liters accumulating in 12 hours.
The warning is also orange, but due to wind, in La Rioja, Asturias, Cantabria, A Coruña, Lugo, Palencia and Burgos.
In addition, in A Coruña and Pontevedra there are also orange warnings for bad seas, with waves of five to seven meters.
Friday will be the rainiest day.
Rainfall will be widespread “throughout the Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and the north of the Canary Islands.”
The largest accumulations of water are expected again in the west of Galicia, but also in the Central system, Andalusia, southern Castilla-La Mancha and the Iberian system, and in the central Pyrenees.
However, rainfall will be weaker and less likely in the Cantabrian area and, unfortunately, in the extreme northeast and southeast of the peninsula, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, all areas affected by drought.
On the other hand, the wind will decrease generally, except in the Strait area and in the Balearic Islands, with strong or very strong gusts in mountain areas in the early hours.
The maritime storm will subside in Galicia and western Andalusia to move to the Mediterranean area, with three-meter waves.
There is a yellow warning for rain in Extremadura, Andalusia and Castilla y León, while Andalusia and the Balearic Islands will be warned for wind and again Andalusia and the Balearic Islands, in addition to Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and the Valencian Community, for rough seas.
#BreakingTime The change in weather will not only bring rain and snow.
The south and southwest wind will intensify on Thursday.
The gusts will exceed 100 km/h in large areas of the northwest of the peninsula, stronger in exposed areas and strong waves in Galicia.
Then you will reach the east.
pic.twitter.com/IEVp0IOC9F
— Eltiempo.es (@ElTiempoes) February 6, 2024
On Saturday the front will leave, which will gradually impose stability.
Precipitation will lose intensity and will tend to subside, but it is still expected "in Galicia, the Cantabrian area, around the mountainous areas of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands."
After the front passes, as usually happens, temperatures “will suffer a generalized and marked decrease,” which will cause a “significant drop in the snow level,” which will be between 1,000-1,500 meters.
Thus, there will be light snowfalls in the main mountain systems of the Peninsula, with the heaviest accumulated in the Pyrenees.
Temperatures will drop across the board with the passage of the front, leading to a significant drop in the snow level, which will be between 1000 and 1500 meters, with light snowfall in the main mountain systems of the Peninsula, with higher accumulations expected in the Pyrenees.
As for the wind, it is expected to increase in the mountain systems of the eastern interior of the peninsula, Mallorca, and in the Cantabrian area.
Warmest January on record
In January it was so excessively hot that it has become the warmest January since records began, according to the balance published this Wednesday by Aemet.
“With an average temperature over peninsular Spain of 8.4°, it was 2.4° warmer than normal and was 0.4° higher than January 2016, the warmest so far,” the agency details.
There were three warm episodes and a single cold one and the level of 30° was exceeded in Gran Canaria.
As many as 29 stations broke their maximum record.
But it was also a wet month, with an average rainfall over mainland Spain of 67.5 liters per square meter, 105% of the normal value for the month.
But the rain has been irregularly distributed: it was very humid in the center of the peninsula and parts of Aragon, but dry in Catalonia, Murcia, areas of the peninsular Levant, Andalusia, the Cantabrian coast, Navarra and northern Galicia.