Spain set to be battered by Storm Ciarán's strong winds and rain

Spain will be hit by Storm Ciarán and an "explosive cyclogenesis" with very strong winds and rains affecting almost the entirety of the country from Wednesday November 1st, All Saints Day (el Día de Todos los Santos) in the country.

This particularly severe storm, christened Ciarán by the British Met Office, is thought to have formed due to unseasonably warm conditions in the north Atlantic. Though the UK and northern France are braced to bear the brunt of the storm, Spain will not escape the strong winds, heavy rains, and thunderstorms in parts. 

The first effects will arrive in Spain on Wednesday afternoon, when a front associated with the storm approaches the northwest of the country and works its way across the rest of the peninsula throughout Thursday.

Tweets from Spain's state meteorological agency Aemet shows the development of the storm below.

🌀La #BorrascaCiaran sufrirá un proceso de ciclogénesis explosiva: la presión atmosférica en su centro bajará más de 24 hectopascales en menos de 24 horas.
Esto hará que se trate de una borrasca muy profunda, con vientos muy fuertes, temporal marítimo y precipitaciones abundantes https://t.co/PWkc8c43Xi pic.twitter.com/m1UvGcluww

— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) October 30, 2023

The conditions are predicted to be so bad that Aemet has taken the unusual step of releasing an online notice warning of an "Atlantic storm with intense winds and precipitations in the [Spanish] peninsula and Balearic Islands." 

According to the statement, storm Ciarán will "mainly affect the northwest quadrant of the peninsular" and the most severe conditions are expected to be on Thursday 2nd.

"This storm will affect the entire peninsula and the Balearic Islands leaving widespread precipitation, as well as bringing very strong winds, which are expected to be the most significant phenomenon," the statement goes on to say.

"AEMET also warns that storm Ciarán will not be the last of the bad weather in Spain over the next couple of weeks: "During the rest of the week the Atlantic flow and autumnal weather will continue, and another deep Atlantic storm may affect Spain on Saturday. As of today, uncertainty remains high and it is difficult to determine the end of this episode."

 

AEMET Information notice: Atlantic storm with intense winds and precipitations in the Peninsula and Balearic Islands. Photo: AEMET

 

 

According to Aemet sources speaking to 20Minutos, the worst of storm Ciarán will be on the Galician Atlantic coast and the Cantabrian Sea areas, where major storm conditions are expected, though strong winds will blow across much of the country, especially in the north, with gusts that could exceed 100 km/h in places.

Severe rain is forecast in Galicia, Asturias, in the west of Castile and León and in mountain areas of the north east.

In the the rest of the country, especially in Madrid, the storm will bring "cloudy skies with rains and showers, more frequent in the mountains, where it will snow from 1000 meters," according to AEMET forecasts, though it reinforces that "the highlight of the storm will be the wind, which will blow strongly throughout the peninsula and the Balearic Islands."