The easterly winds will bring rain and heavy snow until Saturday night

BarcelonaThe easterly winds have strengthened on this Sant Esteve day, bringing heavy rain to many regions, snowfall blanketing the eastern Pyrenees, and rough seas that have forced the closure of beach areas in some municipalities along the central and northern coast. The highest rainfall totals of this event have already exceeded 100 liters per square meter.²And there are still many hours of rain ahead (you'll find more details at the end of this report). If you're hoping to see some sunshine, you'll have to wait until Sunday or Monday, when the skies will finally clear and the downpour will finally end, making this second half of December one of the wettest in recent decades.

Saturday: the storm refuses to leave

On Saturday, heavy rainfall will continue in some areas, especially along the coast and in the eastern half of the country, where locally rainfall will again exceed 50 or 100 liters per square meter. A maritime storm will gradually weaken, but will still be significant along the coast. The rain will also affect the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, as the low-pressure system moves south across the peninsula and into northern Morocco. All of this will be accompanied by continued heavy snowfall in the eastern Pyrenees, with accumulations exceeding one to one and a half meters in this part of the mountain range. Rivers and streams will maintain very high flows due to the soil's limited capacity to retain so much water in such a short time.

In this regard, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya) has issued warnings for various weather phenomena. Rainfall accumulation could exceed 200 l/m² in 24 hours in the northeast of the region, while a yellow warning for heavy rainfall is in effect for the entire Catalan coast and pre-coastal areas. A yellow warning for rough seas has also been issued for the entire coastline, with waves expected to reach over 2.5 meters in height, and wind only triggers an alert for the central coast. Finally, the snow warning only affects Berguedà, Cerdanya, and, at a higher level of danger, Ripollès, where more than 50 centimeters of new snow are expected to accumulate above 2,000 meters.

Sunday: opening of clearings

The weather is expected to improve significantly towards the end of the weekend, with rainfall weakening and becoming confined to the far south, coastal areas, and especially the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. Sunshine will increase in Asturias, although it won't be a sunny day; the weather will be somewhat milder. Sea conditions will be much more normal along the Catalan coast, but still somewhat rough off the coasts of Valencia and Castellón.

Provisional balance of the storm

The easterly winds, which began on Christmas Day, have brought rainfall totals that, by the afternoon of Sant Esteve (St. Stephen's Day), had already exceeded 100 l/m² in some parts of the country, such as Cantonigròs (141 l/m²), Molló (107 l/m²), Viladrau (117 l/m²), and Olot (84 l/m²). The rain has affected the entire country, although totals generally ranged between 20 and 50 l/m² in the eastern half and along the coast, and between 1 liter and 5-10 l/m² in the western Pyrenees. This precipitation, which fell as snow at mid and high elevations in the Pyrenees, accumulating to a depth of over half a meter in some areas, was accompanied by waves that reached 9.75 meters at the Begur headland buoy.