Winter will begin with more torrents of rain

The weather remained very unstable in some areas on Saturday, with a locally intense downpour that in some cases left very heavy amounts of precipitation, causing some incidents (you will find details of this episode at the end of this report). The rain affected parts of the eastern half of the country during Saturday night and early Sunday morning, but the general trend for the last day of the week will be partly cloudy, awaiting a new front that will bring more rain to the west starting in the afternoon, which will spread as the day progresses. Astronomical winter officially arrives on Sunday at 4:03 PM, and it will bring a drop in temperatures that we will notice especially on Monday. We can expect a wintry Christmas week, with temperatures below average and a risk of more rain and snow, although the extent and intensity remain to be seen.

Sunday: day of impasse

Rain is still possible in the eastern half of the country until the early hours of the morning, but throughout the morning, the weather will clear quickly, with some breaks in the clouds. It will be a day of variable skies and winds ranging from the southwest to the west. The approach of a new cold front will bring rain back to the western regions, especially from midday onwards, and particularly in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees of Lleida. The snow level will drop below 1,500 meters as the day progresses. Even before midnight, the snow level could reach around 1,000 meters in Els Ports and the western Pyrenees. Towards evening, this rain could spread to more regions from west to east, and could even be locally heavy overnight between the central coast and pre-coastal areas and the Girona region. This rain front will also reach the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands in the afternoon, although more scattered and weaker. Temperatures will rise temporarily in Girona and Barcelona, ​​but will begin to drop further in the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees of Lleida, especially in the high Pyrenean mountains. Astronomical winter will officially begin at 4:03 PM.

Monday: Partly cloudy

We'll start the week with much calmer and more stable weather, at least temporarily, although there will still be some rain in the eastern half of the region during the early hours. Clear skies will prevail in the morning, with sunshine appearing in many areas, but there will be intervals of high and mid-level clouds, harmless almost everywhere. Temperatures will drop significantly, both day and night, with highs between 11°C and 14°C on the coast, 7°C to 11°C inland, and below 5°C or 6°C in the Pyrenean capitals, with widespread frost at mid and high elevations in the Pyrenees.

Busy and cold Christmas week

The passage of this front will cause a significant drop in temperatures on Monday, bringing cold, wintry conditions as a colder-than-usual air mass moves in. Temperatures will fluctuate throughout the week, but will generally remain below average for this time of year, with frost inland and unseasonably warm afternoons due to the lack of sunshine. Therefore, we can expect a very cold Christmas week, with considerable uncertainty regarding precipitation.

The anticyclone will remain anchored over central and northern Europe, causing low-pressure systems and pockets of cold air to circulate over our region. Depending on the final position of these systems, we will experience varying amounts of precipitation and cold. We will also see what happens with the snow level, as snowfall is possible below 1,000 meters, even on Christmas Day. This highly uncertain situation requires close monitoring.

Summary of the new episode of downpours

The rain began to fall during the afternoon and evening of Friday, concentrated along the central coast and pre-coastal areas and in the eastern half of the region. However, it was during the morning and midday of Saturday that the heaviest rainfall occurred in some areas, especially in the lower reaches of the Besòs River and the rest of the central coast and pre-coastal areas. At official automatic weather stations, rainfall totals reached 77 l/m² in Badalona, ​​64 l/m² in Granollers, 60 l/m² in Mataró, and 54 l/m² in La Roca del Vallès. At unofficial stations located in the southern part of Vallès Occidental, however, there were readings exceeding 100 l/m², such as 136 l/m² in Martorelles and 137 l/m² in Sant Fost de Campsentelles. During the early hours of Sunday, the rain was concentrated in the Girona region, with 42 l/m² in Cassà de la Selva and 34 l/m² in Cabanes. Rainfall totals of between 10 and 40 l/m² are frequently recorded along much of the central coast and pre-coastal area, as well as in the interior of Girona, and also in parts of central Catalonia—welcome news after a very dry start to December.