The week before Easter, Semana Santa, is the first major holiday of the Spanish high season. That is why the weather forecasts for that week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, are always a popular topic of conversation in the country. Many people go out, return to their village of origin or visit a specific city to admire the famous Easter processions.
Members of various brotherhoods also spend months looking forward to that one day in the year when they carry heavy stretchers, or ‘tronos’, with an image of Jesus or Mary on them. If it literally falls into the water due to a heavy rain shower, that is a big disappointment.
DANA
It is now clear that it will rain in many places throughout Spain from Monday onwards in the coming week. Where exactly and on what day is not quite known yet. However, the predictions point to the arrival of a DANA (isolated high-altitude depression), also called gota fría (cold drop), from the Atlantic Ocean that moves eastward over the country.
On Sunday there will be some showers in the far north of the country. However, the real rain will only enter the country from the southwest on Monday. AEMET spokesperson Rubén del Campo also does not rule out “showers at other points inland and in the southeast of the peninsula on Monday.” Instability at the start of Semana Santa is also expected to intensify in the following days.
Warmer than normal
Temperatures remain high for this time of year. The mercury hits temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees above usual values. However, by the end of this week and the beginning of next week, these values will normalise again.
Colder in the north after the weekend
Temperatures may drop in the northern part of the peninsula over the weekend. Especially on Saturday when the mercury can be 10 degrees lower than the day before. In provinces such as Vitoria or Pamplona it will not get warmer than 15 degrees. In contrast, the southern part of Spain will not experience major changes. However, in some places, such as Córdoba, the temperature can even reach 32 degrees.
Atlantic front passes over southern Spain
The storm that continues to hit the Canary Islands on Saturday, with intense snow in the higher areas, will move to the northeast by the end of Sunday. Then it starts to influence the weather in the south of Spain. The wind will blow from eastern and northern directions. Strong gusts of wind will occur on the Galician coast, the south of the peninsula and the Costa Brava.
Fresh Palm Sunday for Castellón and Alicante
The drop in thermometers will be general, possibly with some frost in mountain areas. Castellón and Alicante will have a chilly Palm Sunday, with temperatures barely reaching 20 degrees. Meanwhile, temperatures in Córdoba, Granada or Seville will still hover around 30 degrees.
The weather at the beginning of Semana Santa
At the start of Semana Santa, Del Campo expects rain in parts of the northern peninsula, eastern Andalucia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Murcia region and the Valencian Community. There will also be showers in other parts of the centre and the north. Intense rain is expected in northwestern Spain and around the Pyrenees.
The snow line will drop to between 800 and 1,000 metres from Monday afternoon. As a result, it will start to snow in the major mountain systems. Temperatures will then drop “significantly” in almost all of Spain, except in the Cantabrian area.
Rain almost everywhere on Tuesday
By Tuesday the weather will remain “unsettled” with rain throughout most of the country. Only the southeast of Spain will be spared from it. Intense precipitation is expected in the Pyrenees, the Andalucian mountain systems and abundant snow in mountains in the centre and north of the country.
Temperatures recover on Wednesday
Wednesday starts with some frost in mountain areas and on parts of the plateau. However, daytime temperatures will clearly recover. This day it will rain in extensive areas, very intense in Galicia and the northwest and less likely in the southeast. Temperatures will fall broadly and sharply early in the week, rising from Wednesday, with further drops expected heading into the weekend.
White Thursday
From Maundy Thursday and the following days, fronts will continue to move through the country with a chance of rain in extensive areas. Looking at the rain radar of eltiempo.es, rain is predicted on the entire Spanish south coast (Costa de la Luz, Costa del Sol and Costa Tropical), the interior of Andalucia, north-west Spain and around the Pyrenees.
Also read: Over 16.5 million road trips expected this Easter in Spain
