The hydrological year will end up being the second driest since records began

The hydrological year, which is from 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022, will end up being, for now, the second driest in the historical series in Spain, behind that of 2004-2005, as reported by the Agency State Meteorology (Aemet).

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Up until 20 September, ten days before the close of the hydrological year, the average accumulated rainfall in Spain amounted to 464 litres, approximately 25% less than the normal value corresponding to that period, which is 623 litres per square metre.

Image by Luis Iranzo Navarro-Olivares from Pixabay

This data makes the 2021-2022 hydrological year the second driest since records began, only behind the 2004-2005 period when an average of 415 litres of rain per square metre were collected in Spain.

As indicated by Aemet, the rainfall that is announced for the next few days, especially in points in the north and northeast of the peninsula and in both archipelagos, could “raise” the hydrological year to third place, but they would not prevent it from ending up being one of the driest in the historical series.

The data from Aemet indicate that in the week between September 14 and 20, precipitation exceeded 20 litres per square metre in areas of the interior of the peninsula, west of Extremadura, northwest of Castilla y León and points in Girona, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

Even during those same days, 60 litres per square metre of accumulated rain were reached in the north of Extremadura and adjoining areas and among the records of the main observatories, 68 litres per square metre stood out in Ibiza; 37 litres in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) or 29 litres per square metre in León.

According to Aemet, the amounts of rain accumulated in this hydrological year did not reach normal values ​​in a large part of the Peninsula, except in the provinces of Granada, Almería, Murcia, the Valencian Community and in points of the Cantabrian coast, where they exceeded the usual average.

With regard to the Canary Islands, precipitation did not exceed normal values ​​in any of the islands and was even below half of its average value for the period 1981-2010 in almost the entire archipelago.

In the Balearic Islands, the accumulated rainfall during the hydrological year that is ending exceeded the normal values ​​in the western islands, as reported by Aemet.