Walter Finch
THE fledgling Costa del Sol summer is forecast to be interrupted by the rare occurrence of summer rain storms.
While summer showers are not entirely uncommon, recent years have seen a marked decrease in their frequency.
The Spanish State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has issued a yellow alert (low risk) in anticipation of a DANA, a weather phenomenon characterised by an isolated high-altitude depression that usually brings unsettled weather.
This weather front is forecast to hit the Ronda region most severely, potentially unleashing torrential downpours of 35mm an hour on Thursday.
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The storms may be accompanied by hail.
Weather models predict a slash of rains stretching from Cordoba down to Gibraltar on Thursday, however confidence is not high.
Sporadic heavy rainfall might also occur in other parts of Malaga province, especially in the western Costa del Sol and the Vega de Antequera area. Less severe showers might follow on Friday.
The DANA will most likely form on Tuesday west of Portugal, positioning itself by Thursday in the Gulf of Cadiz.
Between Thursday and Friday it will travel through the interior of the peninsula in a northeasterly direction.
Historically, the last significant summer storms occurred on June 14, 1974, when a similar DANA system brought 74mm of rainfall to Malaga city.
Aemet has extended a national advisory due to the risk of severe thunderstorms and hail affecting large parts of the peninsula this week, which could bring some much-needed relief to the local agricultural sectors, particularly in the Ronda and Antequera areas.
