Steve Ball wrote:
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 )
I was on holiday in Malaga City from 21 December and I can vouch that
was the longest prolonged period of heavy rain I have ever experienced
in Malaga, I have been going there over Christmas and the new year for
at least 12 Yrs. Even what we jokingly call the Rio Seco (guadalmedina)
had water in it =-O . We returned a week early on 31Dec as we were fed
up with the persistant rain. Out of a ten day holiday we had one day of
intermittent sun, a complete washout.
Don