From the worst drought in the last 20 years to possible heavy rains in the coming days. While the Government of the Generalitat yesterday thanked the citizens for their efforts in reducing water consumption, the forecasts for the weekend point to a high probability that an isolated depression will develop at high levels (DANA) with torrential precipitation that it will affect all of Spain and, in a special way, the Mediterranean basin.
Yesterday the Government met the Interdepartmental Drought Commission and its spokeswoman, Patrícia Plaja, thanked the population for the restraint in water consumption, which, with the restrictions in 495 municipalities in an exceptional situation, have made it possible to overcome the period of summer “with the most severe drought of this century” without having to add new limitations.
Plaja called on the population to avoid relaxing with regard to the water-saving habits they have practiced in recent months. According to Government data, the weekend rains in Catalonia have barely increased the volume of the internal basins by one cubic hectometre, and they are now at around 164 cubic hectometres, which represents 24% of their capacity.
The drought of 2023 is already “the most extreme of the 21st century”. “We have seen widespread and abundant rains – pointed out Plaja – but this has not helped to change the very serious drought situation”. “We will be wrong if we think that today we are better than last week, we cannot relax or leave behind restrictive habits already acquired”, he recommended.
The spokeswoman for the Government also referred to the sanctions on municipalities for non-compliance with the restrictions and pointed out that the fines could start to be applied from the beginning of August, which is why it is necessary to have the data for the whole month to notify them
The water could arrive abundantly from next weekend if the forecast of the European Center for Medium-Term Weather Forecasts (Ecmwf) is fulfilled, which calculates a 70% probability that an “extremely intense” DANA will form.
This phenomenon consists of a pocket of cold air that remains isolated in an area of ??warm air. The forecast is that it will form during Friday in the north-west of the Peninsula and that it will move south. Eltiempo.es clarified yesterday that what cannot be specified yet is the route, which will be known more precisely a day or two before it takes place.
One of the possible scenarios is that the DANA moves along the Atlantic front until it reaches the Gulf of Cadiz, where it would remain stagnant. In this case, the most intense precipitation would be in the Mediterranean and in the interior of the Peninsula, where it would be strongest during the morning from Sunday to Monday.
In the event that the DANA moves through the interior of the peninsula, the area of ??most intense precipitation would be recorded in the northeast, in the Mediterranean coastal areas, from the Valencian Community to Catalonia, where it would reach on the south face of the Pyrenees.
In any case, experts warned yesterday that, at the moment, it is too early to predict in detail the most affected areas and the intensity of the rains. Temperatures will also drop, especially in the northern part of the Peninsula.
