Absolutely gorgeous weather the last few days. A baby Blackbird fully fledged but with its yellow gape visible, feeding on the riverbank. The Black redstarts singing from the rooftops. A baby Sparrow being fed on the terrace. The rooks in the various colonies busily repairing their nests. A trip to get some soil for the pots, along with fertilizer for the roses and shrubs. Two mornings spent clearing up the terrace of plants that did not survive the winter. The roses pruned and showing their new shoots. Daffodils and Crocus in flower. Oh yes spring has arrived in León

• La Crónica Verde gives a short round-up of what to expect this spring.

• From Madonado

This winter is proving remarkable wet. Precipitation this year in southern Spain has been so far the highest since 1963, with Sevilla receiving more rain than in the last 60 years. According to the INM, in Spain as a whole, January was 43% wetter than average for the period 1971-2000. The above map shows how this played across the country in terms of percentage of precipitation above average.  Albacete received for instance, more precipitation since 1941 when this series of records began. In the same province of  Castilla-La Mancha, the rains have helped save the much maligned Tablas de Damiel. Unsurprisingly, reservoirs are overflowing and many have had to open their gates. Temperatures have so far been normal.

Summer has seemingly refused to die this year in Spain. Official figures show that October was the fourth hottest since 1971, after 1995, 19997 and 2006. In some areas, temperature were as much three degrees above average. Rainfall was slightly below normal values.

These temperatures had been predicted at the start of the month. In a similar vein, temperatures in August in Spain were “extremely hot”, being the third highest since 1970 (2003 and 2005 were hotter).

Stunning image of the immense power of an electrical storm in Alicante by Big Vern over on the forum, where he notes:

…we witnessed the most spectacular electrical storm I have ever seen, including those I’ve experienced in the tropics. We live in the Orba valley in the north of the Costa Blanca and this storm seemed to be out at sea; the thunder was very distant. The lightning was continuous and multiple, striking out in all directions – in fact I never saw any of the bolts go to earth. This fantastic light display continued for almost 15 minutes until the huge thunderhead cloud started to break up. Read more

And according to the AEMET 2008 has been a warm year in comparison with the 1971-2000 period, though it has been the coldest since 1996 with an average temperature of 15.0 ºC.
AEMET (pdf)

Since the first study by French geographer Franz Schrader in 1894, the Pyrenean glaciers have lost 88 percent of their 1,779-hectare surface area, according to a report by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment. Low rainfall and the rise in temperatures is leading to their rapid melting, and it is estimated that by the middle of the century, they will have vanished altogether. This has accelerated in recent years with the glaciers losing 72 hectares between 2002 and 2008. One of the most striking examples is that of La Madaleta glacier, one of the largest in the Pyrenees, whose thickness has shrunk by 180 metres since 1991 at an average rate of 11 metes a year. The absence of snowfall in summer in recent years has exacerbated this regression. Lower snowfall is also likely to spell long-ter, disaster for the skiing industry.

See also:

• El Pirineo español se funde (El País)
• Glaciers to disappear in the Pyrenees by 2050 (more details)
  
• Glaciers in Spain (2004) Spanish glaciers melting fast Greenpeace has released a report on the state of Spain’s glaciers. The glaciers on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees are melting fast.. Total surface area has dropped from 1779 hectares in 1894 to 290 in 2000, representing a fall of 85% in of surface area. 52% of this has occurred in the last 20 years, and 30% between 1991 and 2001.

Climate change is beginning to affect vineyards in Spain. The start of the grape harvest has moved forward 11 days in the last 20 years. This is increasingly seen as a major threat to the wine industry in Spain and elsewhere. According to the experts, until now the changes to grapes caused by higher temperatures (fruitier flavours, higher acidity and higher concentrations of alcohol) have generally had a positive impact on the taste of wines. But if temperatures keep rising in Spain, wines could soon taste very different, ruining some vintages.

• El cambio climático amenaza al vino (El Mundo – Foto above: Vicente Sotés)
• Spanish wine makers fight climate change (BBC)

Glaciar de Monteperdido in the Aragonese Pyrenees (El País)

A Spanish study published in The Holocene has concluded that the progressive rise in temperatures since 1890 will lead to the total disappearance of the Pyrenean glaciers by 2050.

Glaciers advanced during the Little Ice Age (LIA) between 1300 and 1860 in the Pyrenees, Picos de Europa and Sierra Nevada. These were most extensive in the Pyrenees (because of altitude and latitude) but today glaciers remain only in the highest peaks. There were six glaciers in the Picos de Europa Massif during the LIA, and one glacier, the southernmost of Europe, in the Sierra Nevada (Pico de Veleta). All of these glaciers have been in continuous retreat since the end of the nineteenth century, 94 have disappeared completely (Veleta in 1913), leaving 29 glaciers in the Pyrenees (10 in Spain, 11 in France), four buried icepatches in the Picos de Europa and one buried icepatch in the Sierra Nevada. The last 15 years has seen a 50-60% reduction in surface area of the largest glaciers.

The Little Ice Age was not a continuous period of cold. These Iberian glaciers expanded most rapidly between 1645 and 1710, and then shrunk between 1750 and the early 19th century but then recovered after a new cold period. Since the end of the 19th century temperatures have risen more sharply by 0.7ºC and 0.9ºC in the mountains in northern Spain in line with global warming. El País

See also

• Climate guide to Spain
• The Little Ice Age in Spain
• Glaciers in Spain (2004) Spanish glaciers melting fast Greenpeace has released a report on the state of Spain’s glaciers. The glaciers on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees are melting fast.. Total surface area has dropped from 1779 hectares in 1894 to 290 in 2000, representing a fall of 85% in of surface area. 52% of this has occurred in the last 20 years, and 30% between 1991 and 2001.
  

A remarkable and fortuitous month of rain in May has put an end to the drought affecting much of Spain, and in particular in Catalonia, where the much-publicised and criticised plan to transfer water from the Ebro to Barcelona is to be shelved. Overall for Spain, this has been the rainiest May since 1971, and the third wettest since 1940, with an average of 115 l/m2 across the country (1971 and 1984 recorded 124 and 115, respectively). Some areas have seen much longer records broken. For instance, Roquetas (Tarragona) has recorded the wettest May since 1880, leading to flooding along stretches of the Ebro. There has also been serious flooding in recent days further west along the Ebro Depression and in the Basque Country. Crops in some areas have been ruined. As the Spanish saying goes Nunca llueve a gusto de todos.

Reservoirs across Spain are now at 59.3% of their capacity. The reservoirs of the “internal basins” of Catalonia, which supply Barcelona, have doubled their capacity in less than two months to 53%. Various sources including El Mundo

We’ve heard another weather expression a lot in recent weeks, testament to the rains: Hasta el cuarenta de mayo no te quites el sayo. (Until the 40th of May, don’t take your coat off)- N’er cast a clout till may be out, as they once said in English.

Update: Heavy rains have continued in some areas into June. The Guardian reported on this story and the effects of rain the Zaragoza Expo

I enjoyed reading this piece on the Tramontana wind written for Iberianature by Francis Barrett as part of his Guide to the Ampurdan. In Spain, Tramontana refers to the wind which blows NE-SW across the Ampurdan region of Girona. (Painting above by Fransesc Gimeno: An Ampordan village. Note Montgrí in the background – 1918)

…. the strong Tramontana wind is a fairly regular feature of the region in all seasons except summer. This variant of the French Mistral wind blows NE-SW across the landscape for 3-12 days at a time, and can be bitter when the Pyranees are covered in snow and ice. Taking shelter indoors avoids the icy blast, but not the shrill moan as the wind swirls around corners and down chimneys to make fireplace flames flicker and die. The English proverb “red sky at night – shepherds’ delight; red sky in the morning – sailors’ warning” is reversed in the Ampurdan; glorious sunsets signal the imminence of the Tramontana, whereas beautiful dawns are the norm.

The influence of the Tramontana can be seen in the rural landscape and architecture, with walls and lines of beech (sic) trees designed as windbreaks, and open arches at the top level of old farmhouses to dry stored crops. The people of the region tend to live in harmony with the local climactic vagaries, but the Tramontana affects their behaviour most of all, making the children giddy on the first day and rendering everybody depressed when it blows for a week. After 10 days of Tramontana, the murder rate goes up and both people and animals have been known to commit suicide. Catalonia celebrates eight traditional winds, but only the people of the Ampurdan, or Empordanesos, are said to be tocats per al vent – “touched”or mentally affected by the wind.

Elsewhere is this excellent piece by Ian Gibson in the New York Times on the tramontana wind from his Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí

Around 1881 Gal Dali moved to Barcelona. According to family tradition the main reason for this decision was that he found he could no longer stand the tramuntana. This fierce north wind, as integral a part of life in the Upper Emporda as the rain in London, has to be experienced to be believed. Dry and bitterly cold in winter, it roars and blasts its way down through the passes of the Pyrenees (hence tramuntana, `from across the mountains’), sweeping the sky clear of clouds, and, hitting the Emporda, forces the cypresses almost to their knees, smashes flowerpots, snaps television masts and coats the cliffs of Cape Creus white with salt lashed from the waves. The tramuntana blows regularly at over 130 kilometres an hour, and has been known to overturn railway carriages and hurl cars into the sea. At Port-Bou, on the French frontier, it can be so violent that the paramilitary Civil Guard used to enjoy a special dispensation allowing them to climb to their quarters upstairs on all-fours: a position that would normally have been considered undignified in the extreme for a force of law and order famed for its machismo.

Gibson continues:

The tramuntana can affect the emotions as brutally as it does the sea and countryside, and is a constant topic of conversation in this region. The Empordanese are known for their intransigence (the Dalis were no exception), and one authority on the area has attributed this to their having to push constantly against the wind. Anyone a little dotty in these parts, or with a tendency suddenly to flare up, is likely to be labelled atramuntanat (`touched by the tramuntana’), and in the past crimes passionnels committed when the wind was raging were half-way to being condoned. As for depressives, they can be driven to absolute despair by a prolonged bout of the wind–and the bouts may last for eight or ten days, especially in winter. It is even alleged that the tramuntana is responsible for suicides, especially in Cadaques. The protagonist of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, `Tramuntana’, is such a victim. It may well be that Gal Dali feared that, if he stayed on in the village, he was in mortal danger.

Notes:

• The wind also lends its name to the Serra de Tramuntana in Mallorca.
• According to Wikipedia. the word tramontana comes from the Latin “transmontanus” and the Italian “tramontana,” meaning not just “across the mountains” but also “The North Star” (literally the star “above the mountains,”)

According to the Centro de Investigacións Mariñas of Galicia barnacle captures are likely to be favoured by alterations due to climate change, though clam and cockle farming will be hit.

Clams and cockles will be negatively affected by torrential rains as their principal beds lie at the mouth of rivers. Heavy rains will bring a large influx of fresh water harmful to shellfish. High water temperatures will lead to proliferation of pathogenic agents which attack clams and cockles.

On the plus side, the production of barnacles has increased in recent years coinciding with a fall in algal blooms, though the article does not explain why. More soon when I understand this.

El cambio climático favorecerá la captura del percebe en Galicia (El Pais)

More on barnacles from Iberianature

1. Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus)
2. Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)
3. Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
4. Common Guillemot (Uria aalge)
5. Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
6. Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus)
7. White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)
8. Dupont’s lark (Chersophilus duponti)
9. Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)
10. Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia)
11. Balearic Warbler (Sylvia balearica)
12. Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
13. Rook (Corvus frugilegus)

Species whose status will worsen (23):

• Black Stork (Ciconia nigra)
• Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
• Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
• Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus)
• Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
• Monk Vulture (Aegypius monachus)
• Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti)
• Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix)
• Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax)
• Great Bustard (Otis tarda)
• stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)
• Collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola)
• Common Redshank (Tringa tetanus)
• Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybridus)
• Black Tern (Chlidonias niger)
• Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis)
• Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata)
• Stock Dove (Columba oenas)
• European Roller (Coracias garrulus)
• Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens)
• Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin (Cercotrichas galactotes)
• Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
• Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

There are also 75 species whose area of distribution will diminish considerably.

Especies cuya distribución en España se reduce considerablemente. Some examples: (Sorry can’t be bothered translating any more, but you have the Latin)

• Cigüeña blanca Ciconia ciconia
• Buitre leonado Gyps fulvus
• Busardo o ratonero común Buteo buteo
• Perdiz roja Alectoris rufa
• Chocha perdiz Scolopax rusticola
• Críalo Clamator glandarius
• Lechuza común Tyto alba
• Cogujada montesina Galerida theklae
• Collalba negra Oenanthe leucura
• Mirlo capiblanco Turdus torquatus
• Zarcero común Hippolais polyglotta
• Carbonero palustre Parus palustris
• Herrerillo capuchino Parus cristatus
• Agateador norteño Certhia familiaris
• Rabilargo Cyanopica cyanus
• Chova piquirroja Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
• Estornino negro Sturnus unicolor
• Gorrión chillón Petronia petronia
• Verderón serrano Serinus citrinella

Species which will expand in Spain (7):

• Busardo o ratonero moro Buteo rufinus
• Halcón borní Falco biarmicus
• Perdiz chukar Alectoris chukar
• Perdiz griega Alectoris graeca
• Zarcero pálido Hippolais pallida
• Alcaudón chico Lanius minor
• Gorrión moruno Passer hispaniolensis

Mediterranean species which will expand in Europe (some examples):

• Águila perdicera Hieraeetus fasciatus
• Cernícalo primilla Falco naumanni
• Gaviota patiamarilla Larus michahellis
• Autillo Otus scops
• Vencejo pálido Apus pallidus
• Abejaruco Merops apiaster
• Abubilla Upupa epops
• Terrera común Calandrella brachydactyla
• Golondrina dáurica Hirundo daurica
• Collalba rubia Oenanthe hispanica
• Cetia ruiseñor o ruiseñor bastardo Cettia cetti
• Cistícola buitrón Cisticola juncidis
• Curruca cabecinegra Sylvia melanocephala
• Alcaudón común Lanius senator
• Escribano soteño Emberiza cirlus

The “aurora borealis” is a luminescent meteor, a phenomenon that frequently happens in areas close to the North Pole and which can also be seen in rather exceptional circumstances in regions of Central Europe. So the aurora borealis that could quite clearly be seen from the Pyrenees, and even from the top of the Tibidabo hill in Barcelona, on the 25th of January 1938, was an absolutely unusual occurrence. It was in fact a unique experience. There are no known accounts of any other event of that kind at such meridional latitudes. Furthermore, the phenomenon took place in the midst of war, thus causing terrible confusion and shock among the soldiers who were fighting on the Aragonese front.

From THE REPUBLICAN YEARS (www.bcn.es) by J. Fabre, J.M. Huertas and. Pradas

There have been 59 important floods in the last six centuries. This year is the 50 anniversary of 1957 flood (14/Oct), the worst in the 20th century, which caused 81 deaths, 52 of which were in the Valencian capital, as the River Turia burst its banks. 1,131,000 tonnes of mud had to be removed from the city. More from the great Alfred Picó.

But also seems that in recent years these extreme events have become more frequent because of climate change.

Source Els Temps de Pico and here

Some interesting environmentally aware holidays in Portugal here at wildside holidays

• Less and less cranes arrive every yearÂ
• Storks are leaving later or staying all year round. 20 years not a single stork wintered in Spain. Now an estimated 30,000 winter here.Â
• An increase in migration of Sub-Saharan birdsÂ
• The increase in tempeartures in Spain of one and a half degrees since the early 1960s has pushed forward the arrival of at least cuckoos, storks, swifts. nightingales and swallows. However, a word of caution. With the notable exception of the storks, these early arrivals are with respect to the “unusually late”1960s”. Arrival times are now it seems the same as the 1940s. We shall see

And here’s a map the arrival of swallows

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More soon (El Pais)

• Jellyfish normally leave the coast in winter, but they’ve stayed this year because of the high temperatures of 15ºC (rather than 12-13). Winter rains which reduces the coastal sea’s salt level and pushes jellyfish out to deeper waters, have been sparse and so jellyfish have stayed. Banks of Pelagia noctiluca seen off Costa Brava. See also Spanish jellyfish

• More and more hoopoes and storks are wintering in Catalonia instead of flying south. Previously rare Catalan species ( black-shouldered kite, thekla lark & orphean warbler) are increasingly turning up. More here (El Periodico) . See also Climate change in Spain

• Update (23/01/06). Effects of climate change in Galicia: many butterflies, dragonflies and amphibians active. Oak tress keeping their leaves along coast (Voz de Galicia)