Wet March ‘caused by climate change’
Successive low pressure weather systems have brought record rainfall
THE RECORD rainfall in March in the south east of Spain is the result of climate change, according to the head of Alicante university’s climatology laboratory, Jorge Olcina.
Sr Olcina explained that temperatures in the Arctic are increasing faster than predicted, which is causing north pole wind currents to blow with less intensity and ‘be displaced towards the Iberian Peninsula’.
As a result, three cut off low pressure weather systems (DANA or gota fría in Spanish) formed in quick succession this month in the Gulf of Cádiz, to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar.
In turn this led to heavy and persistent rain in the south east of the country and also the north of the Valencia region as the fronts moved into the Mediterranean.
Sr Olcina, who is also president of the Spanish geographers’ association (AGE), noted that the tendency for wet Marches began at the beginning of the millennium but really took hold from 2010 onwards.
This phenomenon followed winters which were very dry and dominated by high pressure weather systems.
Figures for Torrevieja show that three out of the five of the wettest Marches on record have come in the last three years, with this month (2022) receiving the most rainfall since records began.
Local weather association Proyecto Mastral revealed that this March has also had the most days with rain ever recorded in any month in the municipality.
The previous record month had been December, 1943 when 16 days with rain were registered – this month had notched up 17 at the time of going to press.
The record also fell in Alicante city, where meteorologists had recorded 18 days of
rainfall so far in March.
Sr Olcina said the precipitation has been ‘very beneficial’ for the countryside and farmers’ fields after such a dry spell of weather.
As well as returning moisture to the soil, it has helped to replenish reservoirs and the subterranean aquifers and guarantee that water will be available for irrigation for the remainder of the year.
Weekend rain
The level of rivers rose quickly all over the north of the province at the weekend as more rain hit the area.
Videos taken at the Algar waterfalls in Callosa d’en Sarrìa showed the swollen River Algar turned into a raging torrent.
The huge quantity of rain which has fallen this month forced the Júcar river and water authority (CHJ) to open the sluice gates at both Guadalest and Beniarrés reservoirs.
Beniarrés, which receives water from the River Serpis,
north of Alcoy, opened all of its floodgates during the early hours of Sunday when its capacity reached 96%.
After a false alarm on Wednesday, flood gates were also opened at Guadalest reservoir on Saturday evening as it was nearing capacity.
This caused the level of the Algar river to rise spectacularly.
As a precaution, Altea police closed all the country lanes that cross the river near its mouth to prevent any incidents, while the Marina Baixa Protección Civil force warned of water accumulating on the CV-70 Benidorm to Alcoy road, as well as minor landslides.
On Saturday Alicante provincial fire service reported that they attended ‘various incidents’ relating to the high winds and rain – one of these was to remove rocks which had fallen onto the Camí de la Borona in Cocentaina during a landslide.