After a fairly settled autumn in Gibraltar... the wet (winter ) season truly
set in in the run up to Christmas
and over the last two to three weeks the area has predominantly been under
the influence of a warm and very moist
southwesterly airflow.

Over the month of December Gibraltar airport received 508.2mm making it the
3rd wettest December since records began in 1947. The wettest 24hrs was
actually from 09Z Christmas Day morning to 09Z Boxing Day morning when 128mm
fell.
At one point on Boxing Day morning my Davis VP2 registered a peak rain rate
of 768mm/ hr as a very active squall line passed through. Numerous
waterspouts were observed off the eastern end of the runway, a regular
occurance during strong southwesterlies. In the two weeks over the festive
period almost all flights were diverted to Malaga due to the prevailing
southwesterly winds giving severe turbulence over the rock and across the
final approach at the airport.

In the run up to Christmas two tornadoes were also reported in Cadiz, while
the mountain village of Grazalema received their worst rain in over 25 years
having registered 900mm in a week, with 228mm falling in 24hrs.

The New Year has seen no real change in the pattern with last night bringing
another deluge of rain across Gibraltar and Andalucia. Heavy rain and
frequent thunder dropped another 83mm at the airport overnight, 6/ 7th Jan.

With the fixed pattern over the UK, I cant see things settling down here
across Iberia. One piece of good news though is that Spanish reservoirs in
the south are reportedly full for the first time in years, with sluice gates
having to be opened!!

Steph
( Gibraltar weather forecaster )