The (lack of) Rain in Spain
Spain suffering worst drought in over a decade
Spain faces water restrictions widely this summer as it suffers its worst drought in more than a decade. In one of the worst affected areas, Catalunya, the Barcelona government is hoping to pre-empt a summer crisis by importing water by tanker.
A decrease in annual rainfall since the 1970s is said to have contributed to the low reservoir levels. At present Spain’s Water Agency reports that reservoirs across the country are running at an average capacity of less than 50 percent. In the worst affected areas such as Catalunya and Andalucia the capacity in many reservoirs is said to be less than 20 percent Malaga is facing its fourth year of severe drought.
Barcelona plans to import water from southern France and ironically from drought stricken Andalucia. The water from the latter is to be imported from a desalination plant in Almeria. The Water Agency has been forced to address the growing problem of water shortages. It is currently investing over 100 million Euro in measures to import drinking water, and to build desalination and water purification plants.
Spain is not alone in its crisis with its neighbour Portugal currently suffering its worst winter drought since 1917. This is likely to bring similar problems as those experienced in Spain.
The director-general of Spain’s State Meteorology Agency said that the shortage of rain means that Spain is going to see its driest hydrological six-month period (October-March) for 60 years. While unsettled showery weather is forecast over the next few days and through the spring, it is unlikely to address the current shortages.
Source: BBC Weather
Have you noticed any changes in the climate? Give examples.
Comments
You wrote this post in 2008. You are a fortune teller, because you picked up an article which was about what happened last year. It’s the same. You can use this article to other years. Drought is recurrent in Spain and I, suppose, in other countries. The Earth is a universal relation that manages to do to organize itself. So there are cycles of rainfall (now) and cycles for shortage of water (last year).
Therefore, Spain has never done anything to improve this situation and, then, Spanish people have to suffer its results. I think we don’t learn. If we were like the ants we wouldn’t have problems, because they get ahead to the inclement weather. The human being thinks that he is the superior being of Creation and it isn’t true.
The source of this article is the BBC and it seems that they only know Cataluña and Barcelona, (It was necessary to mention Andalucía because the title of the article is Spain) but there are other places in Spain more nice and interesting than Barcelona and Cataluña like Segovia.
See you.
I hope you had a lovely Easter break.
16 days without replying to you - this may be a record.
I don't remember there being a drought last year. I certainly remember there being a severe shortage of rainfall other years.
To my mind, we can't cope with weather-related problems as well as we used to. a few centimetres of snow or a month without rain for us to panic.
You wrote this post in 2008. You are a fortune teller, because you picked/chose an article which was about what happened last year. It’s the same. You can apply this story to other years. Drought is recurrent in Spain and I, suppose, in other countries too. The Earth is a universal relation that manages to organize itself. So there are cycles of rainfall (now) and cycles for shortages of water (last year).
Unfortunately, Spain has never done anything to improve this situation and, then, Spanish people have to suffer its results. I think we don’t learn. If we were like ants, we wouldn’t have problems because they are able to deal with inclement weather. The human being thinks that they are the superior being of Creation and it isn’t true.
The source of this article is the BBC and it seems that they only know Cataluña and Barcelona, (It was necessary to mention Andalucía because the title of the article is Spain) but there are other places in Spain which are nicer and more interesting than Barcelona and Cataluña, like Segovia.
Spain is usually going through droughts that causes many problems such as the loss of harvests and, consecuently, the rise of the food prices.
In my view, this year was not too bad, indeed, we've been stricken with some floods over the autumn seasion.
But generally speaking Spain is a really dry country, it's common to see in the news farmers complaining about the difficulties to sow and reap.
Anyway, besides the efects that all this causes to the harvests, I rather prefer a dry weather to a wet one.
As far as I remember, this was the last time there was a serious drought in Spain. I can recall the days of water shortages in Madrid though, like during Covid, I am sure there were many people who did not adhere to the guidance.
Spain usually goes through droughts that cause many problems such as the loss of harvests and, consequently, a rise in food prices.
In my view, this year was not too bad though we have been stricken with some floods over the autumn season.
But generally speaking, Spain is a really dry country it's common to see farmers complaining about the difficulties in sowing and reaping in the news.
Anyway, despite the effects that all this causes to harvests, I prefer a dry climate to a wet one.