MADRID – INogood news for those in Spain who have just cleaned their terrace, swimming pool, or car of the traces of the mud rain that passed over Spain last week. Futhermore, the Calima will be back above various parts of Spain from Thursday.
The ‘Calima’ that crossed Spain a week ago and painted the country orange-brown, was not isolated. An Atlantic storm joins a new dust cloud from the Sahara on Thursday. Moreover, this results in mud rains almost all over Spain. The dust cloud is moving northeast from the south of Spain and will continue along Spain’s east coast until Sunday.
Most affected areas
The areas most affected by this meteorological phenomenon are Andalucia, Murcia, and the Valencian Community. The Spanish weather agency AEMET has simultaneously issued warnings of continued and intense rainfall and coastal phenomena.
An orange warning applies to Almería and Málaga. 80 litres of precipitation per square meter can fall here in 12 hours.
A yellow warning is active for Murcia, Cádiz, Huelva, Seville, Ceuta, Alicante, Valencia, Castellón, Albacete, Tarragona and Teruel. Meteorologists expect more than 10 litres per square metre in one hour.
Calima less intense
This new Calima arrives in Spain propelled by southerly winds. Furthermore, they lift the sand in the Sahara and transport it across the Mediterranean to Spain. However, meteorologists expect that the phenomenon will manifest itself less extreme than last week.
See also: The positive side of the Sahara storm for Spain
The mud rains mainly fall inland, affecting Madrid, Teruel, Albacete, and Cáceres. In the south, they pass through the provinces of Granada and Almería. As the weekend approaches, the rains are disappearing at the same rate as the Saharan dust.
Air quality
A result of the arrival of this new mass of African dust will worsen air quality in all areas it passes through. Therefore, it is recommended to wear an ffp2 mask, don´t practice outside sports, and close your windows. The animation in this tweet from @CopernicusEU (the European Earth Observation Programma) shows exactly how the mass of air with Saharan sand moves over Spain.
Yet another #SaharanDust storm should be reaching the Mediterranean basin in the next few days
According to the forecast of @CopernicusECMWF, the dust cloud will reach Italy 🇮🇹 on 26 March
⬇️#CAMS Aerosol forecast (visualised in @Windycom) for the 24 – 27 March time period pic.twitter.com/KE86LNSZSn
— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) March 24, 2022
