SPAIN’S national weather agency has issued yellow alerts for Granada, Almeria and Murcia as flash floods, hail and gusts of up to 80km/h threaten to strike Andalucia this afternoon.
The danger window runs from 3pm to 10pm, as a cold air pocket trapped over south-east Spain fuels a fresh round of violent storms.
Forecasters at Meteored warn of a serious flash flood risk, particularly in mountain areas where rivers and gullies can rise within minutes.
Granada faces the most intense risk in Andalucia, with storms expected to be frequent and powerful this afternoon and possibly reaching the coast.
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Mountain areas of Almeria and Jaen can also expect powerful downpours, with rainfall exceeding 20 litres per square metre in a single hour.
Local accumulations of more than 50 litres per square metre are possible in the worst-affected spots within just a few hours.
Murcia’s interior is also in the firing line, with the northwest of the region expected to see the most intense activity.
Interior areas of Castellon and Valencia are also expected to see storm activity, along with Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel and the south of Guadalajara.
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Hail is also expected, with the European Severe Storms Laboratory warning of the greatest risk between eastern Andalucia and the interior of Murcia.
Winds will gust to between 70 and 80 kilometres per hour at peak intensity — less severe than Sunday, but still enough to cause damage.
AEMET’s yellow alerts cover all the affected provinces, citing rainfall rates above 15 to 20 litres per square metre per hour, with hail and damaging winds also flagged.
The storms are being fed by extreme heat, converging winds and the unusually warm waters surrounding Spain — each adding energy to an already volatile system.
Sunday’s storms swept through the east and north-east of the peninsula, leaving intense rainfall, damaging winds and hail across wide areas.
The systems produced supercells — organised storm structures capable of sustaining themselves for hours — as conditions proved highly favourable to their formation.
Lightning strikes from today’s storms will push the wildfire risk to high across wide areas of Spain — a hazard that will outlast the rain.
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