The historic rainstorm continues discharging in the northeast of the country

BarcelonaThe red alert remains activated due to the episode of torrential rain in the coastal, pre-coastal, and northeastern regions of the country. An extraordinary convective mesoscale system has generated torrential rains, especially in the pre-coastal and central coastal areas, with accumulated amounts until 6 a.m. this morning of 245 l/m² in Granollers. Finally, the medicane (Mediterranean mini-hurricane) did not form. Notable are the 68 l/m² that fell this early morning in just half an hour in Granollers, a figure of extraordinary torrential intensity, as well as the 300 l/m² in some neighborhoods of Cornellà del Llobregat. The storm system also struck the Maresme, where 244 l/m² accumulated in Mataró. The torrential nature and the extraordinary amounts accumulated in a few hours have caused the flow of the Besòs river to exceed 900 m³/s in Santa Coloma de Gramanet, well above the more than 500 reached during storm Glòria.

With the current maps, the rains will continue to be intense and extraordinary in the northeast, the coast and the pre-coastal area of Barcelona, with significant local accumulations in a few hours, with strong winds and extreme phenomena such as waterspouts or tornadoes. The Meteocat alerts are for intense rain and accumulations of more than 40 l/m² in half an hour, 90 l/m² in three hours and more than 200 l/m² in 24 hours. After a dawn with downpours, the rain will continue to discharge with intensity between the Barcelonès and the Empordà, and also affecting the regions of Girona and the east of Central Catalonia.

This situation of marked instability is typical of autumn, aggravated by a sea much warmer than it should be at this time of year. This year, records for the average sea surface temperature in the Mediterranean have been set, which reached 28.6 °C on August 14th (data from Copernicus Marine Service, @CMEMS_EU). In Catalonia, the sea has reached its highest average temperature ever recorded this summer, at 21.1 ºC.

During the afternoon, the disturbance will move towards the northeast of the country and the rain will be concentrated in the easternmost Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees. At the end of the day, the downpours will remain focused on the northern coast and pre-coastal areas.

Unsettled start to the week, with new showers

We will start the week with clearings, especially in Ponent and in the south. On Monday at midday, clouds will grow again and some scattered downpours will fall. On Tuesday, thunderstorms will reactivate in the north and also in the Ports de Tortosa. It will not fully clear up until the end of the week, and temperatures may rise a little but, in no case, do they intend to drop.