From the most serious 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 at high levels (DANA) will develop with torrential rainfall that It will affect all of Spain and especially the Mediterranean basin.
The Government met yesterday with the Sequera Interdepartmental Commission, and its spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, thanked the population for the containment of water consumption that, together with the restrictions in 495 municipalities in an exceptional situation, has allowed us to overcome the summer period ” with the most severe drought of this century” without having to add new limitations.
Plaja called on the population to avoid relaxing in the water-saving habits that they have practiced in recent months. According to data from the Government, the rains last weekend in Catalonia have barely increased the volume of the internal basins by one cubic hectometre, so that they are now at about 164 cubic hectometres, which represents 24% of their capacity.
The 2023 drought is already “the most extreme of the 21st century”. “There have been widespread and abundant rains,” said Plaja, “but that has not served to change the very serious situation of drought.” “We will be wrong if we think that today we are better than last week, we cannot relax or leave behind already acquired restrictive uses,” she recommended.
The Government spokesperson also referred to the sanctions on municipalities for non-compliance with the restrictions and pointed out that the fines could begin to be applied from the beginning of August, so it is necessary to have the data for the entire month to notify them.
The water could arrive abundantly from next weekend if the forecast of the European Center for Medium-Term Weather Forecasts 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 a zone of warm air. The forecast is that it will form throughout next Friday in the northwest of the Peninsula and that it will move south. Eltiempo.es clarified yesterday that what cannot be specified yet is the route, which can be known more precisely one or two days before it occurs.
One of the possible options is for the DANA to move along the Atlantic front until it reaches the Gulf of Cádiz, where it would remain stuck. In this case, the most intense rainfall would occur in the Mediterranean and in the interior of the Peninsula, where it would be strongest during the early hours of Sunday to Monday.
In the event that the DANA moves through the interior of the Peninsula, the area of ??greatest intensity rainfall would be recorded in the northeast, in the Mediterranean coastal areas, from the Valencian Community to Catalonia, where it would reach the south face of the Pyrenees.
In any case, experts warned yesterday that, for now, it was too early to forecast in detail the most affected areas and the intensity of the rains. Temperatures will also register a drop, especially in the northern part of the Peninsula.
