Storm ‘Charles’ in Catalonia: night rains and alert on Thursday for strong wind

BarcelonaThe storm Charles will cross us fully in the coming hours, after leaving an authentic rain and strong wind storm especially in the peninsular southwest. This disturbance has a subtropical origin and comes loaded with humidity; it has deepened upon reaching the peninsula and entering the sphere of action of the other Atlantic storm, Bruna. Starting this evening, the rain will reach the west of Catalonia and will sweep across the whole country during the night. The most significant records are expected on the south face of the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees, where it will not clear up on Thursday. Tomorrow the news will be the strong westerly wind gust driven by the same Charles, which will affect most regions.

Thursday: strong wind

The general rainfall from the night will be moving away, and early on there will only be some showers in the northeast, but especially in parts of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees – particularly on the south side and in the western sector – where remnants of precipitation will remain throughout the day. In these areas, more than 100 l/m² could accumulate locally throughout the episode, especially in the two Pallars, Alta Ribagorça, and the extreme south of the Aran Valley, as Meteocat warns.

In the rest of the country, it will be a day of variable skies, but above all, the main news will be the strong westerly wind that is expected. It will affect the majority of regions and could produce gusts exceeding 72 km/h, impacting heavily populated areas like the Barcelona metropolitan area. Exercise great caution regarding the possible falling of trees and branches, as well as poorly secured objects on building facades that could fall. Meteocat has placed much of the country on alert due to the wind, as well as the entire coast due to strong maritime storms and waves that could exceed 2.5 meters in height. Aemet has activated alerts for strong winds and rough seas in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, where the wind will also be significant.

All this with temperatures that will remain high for the season, because the wind will blow warmed up. Many highs of 20 to 25 °C are still expected. Even so, the thermometers will already start to drop in the Pyrenees and in points of the interior, where the minimums will be recorded in the late hours.

More autumnal atmosphere in the coming days

Facing the final stretch of the week, the instability will continue. On Friday only a few showers will fall in the north of the country, not much. On the other hand, on Saturday a new Atlantic front could reactivate the rain in many regions. Temperatures will tend to drop, although not as much as the maps indicated days ago. In any case, it seems that we will recover the more autumnal atmosphere that is usual for this time of year, and we will leave the little summer behind.