After the wettest spring for 57 years in Spain, the latest predictions, contradicting a previous long-term forecast, are for a hot, dry summer, though without the long extreme heat waves of 2003. El País
Archive for the ‘Climate’ Category
Prediction changes to hot dry summer for Spain
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008Cooler summer prediction for Spain
Monday, June 9th, 2008The latest very tentative predictions by the US NOAA forecast group are forecasting a cooler than average summer this year for Spain with above average rainfall. Below variations from average temperatures, and here for rain map from the Catalan weather service.
May rains spell end to drought
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
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
Expo2008: Rain in Spain causes Zaragoza to complain
Organisers of international water festival find their grand opening hampered by heavy rainfall
The Tramontana wind
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
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,”)
Pyrenean snowfall could drop by 50%
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008Spanish scientists from the Pyrenean Ecological Institute have predicted that temperatures in the mountain range in eastern Spain and south-west France could rise by between 2.8C and 4C by the start of the 22nd century. At the same time, snowfall levels could decline by between 30% and 50%. The study also claims that the slopes above 2,000 metres may see snow for only four to five months, whereas today they are covered for up to six months. The report, published in the International Journal of Climatology, also claimed rainfall levels could go down by between 10.7% and 14.8% a year by the end of this century. Researchers said the predictions, which cover the period between 2070 and 2100, were based on possible rises in greenhouse gases. They used six climate models which accurately estimated conditions in the Pyrenees between 1960 and 1990.
Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, a geographer, who led the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) team, said that in the best-case scenario, if emissions were low, by 2100 average temperatures could rise by 2.8C. However, if emissions rose, temperatures would increase by 4C. This would clearly have major implications for the Pyrenees. The Guardian or CSIC report here in Spanish
Climate change issues in Spain
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Useful summary on climate change issues in Spain here from Celius. “As far as European countries go, Spain is on the front lines of climate change….Spring is now coming two weeks earlier in Spain, causing 23 more hot days than 30 years ago. This has a tremendous impact on the agricultural cycle in the country, as well as the wildlife. Bears in the northern mountain regions have stopped hibernating and Dung beetles in northern Spain have shifted habitat as temperatures have increased..” Iberianature archive on climate change.
Worst drought in Mediterranean Spain since 1912
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008Worst drought since 1912
According to director general of water of the Ministry of the Environment, Jaime Palop, Mediterranean Spain is suffering the worst drought since 1912. (El Mundo)
Spanish drought worsens
Monday, February 18th, 2008Spain is suffering its worst drought in the October-March semester for 60 years, with a national average of just 177 mm compared to the normal value of 316 mm. Only the unlikely event of very heavy rains over the next two weeks would save the period from beating the record. The prolonged drought over the last three years is the worst since reliable records began.
El Mundo
Climate change to affect shellfish in Galicia
Monday, February 11th, 2008
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
Bird extinction in Spain due to climate change
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008A new report (A Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds) has just been released by Birdlife on the effects of climate change on bird populations. As would be expected, the results are of serious concern. By the end of the century, the potential future distribution of the average European bird species will shift by nearly 550 km north-east. Specifically for Spain (SEO) the following species are likely to become extinct (13):
- Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus)
- Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)
- Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
- Common Guillemot (Uria aalge)
- Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
- Tengmalm’s Owl (Aegolius funereus)
- White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)
- Dupont’s lark (Chersophilus duponti)
- Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)
- Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia)
- Balearic Warbler (Sylvia balearica)
- Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
- Rook (Corvus frugilegus) (more…)
Sea level rise in the Mediterranean
Friday, January 18th, 2008Sea level in the Mediterranean could rise by as much as half a metre in the next 50 years according to the Instituto Español de Oceanografía. Sea level in the Mediterranean rose 8cm between 1948 and 2005. The study analyzed how sea levels, temperatures and salinity have evolved in the Spanish Mediterranean since 1948, when the first scientific measurements were taken. According to the researchers the observations “coincide with the worst results” of studies on global climate change. .(El Pais).
Climate change report on Spain
Thursday, November 29th, 2007A new report (PDF) for the Spanish government paints a grim picture for the country for the late 21st century with extreme temperatures in the summer, the wholescale desertification of the south, a collapse in biodiversity (with for example 97% of reptiles and amphibians affected), a big reduction of water resources, particularly in the south, a rise in sea level of 15cm leading from 15-70m lost in beaches. (El Pais) More soon.
Greenpeace predict the future of Spain with photo book
Thursday, November 8th, 2007Greenpeace have just published a book (Photoclima: Imágenes de un futuro afectado por el cambio climático) which attempts to predict the future of the Spanish landscape using photo manipulation. The photos are accompanied by texts by writers including José Saramago, Manuel Rivas, Iñaki Gabilondo, Miguel Delibes and Jane Goodall. Below the River Ebro as it passes through Zaragoza and the disappearance of La Manga del Mar Menor. El Pais
Worst storms in Valencia’s history
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007With torrential rains and several deaths from storms in Valencia and Alicante in the last few weeks, it is worth remembering that the Mediterranean coast is characterised by extreme weather events in autumn and has always suffered from flooding, though year’s events have been grossly aggravated by building on flood plains and near dry river beds.
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.
