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From downpours to scorching heat: Spain's wild weather week
What a week for the weather. One minute we're dealing with floods and road closures, the next we're back in shorts and t-shirts wondering if summer forgot to leave. Spain's forecast has been all over the shop and honestly, we've had about three seasons crammed into seven days.
It all kicked off with Storm Gabrielle throwing a proper tantrum across the southeast early in the week. Murcia got absolutely hammered, with some spots like Molina de Segura and Murcia city seeing between 40 and 74 litres of rain per square metre in single downpours.
Roads turned into rivers, gullies overflowed and the emergency services were run ragged answering more than 250 calls from drivers trapped by flash floods, particularly along the N-301.
The mayor of Molina de Segura said they'd dodged any serious damage, but the footage of streets under water was pretty dramatic stuff. Residents were urged to stay away from flood-prone areas and batten down the hatches as orange and yellow weather warnings stayed in place throughout Tuesday.
Over in Alicante, the rain was just as intense but frustratingly patchy. Torrevieja took a battering despite all that money they've spent on drainage improvements. Playa de los Locos lived up to its name with communal bins literally floating down the street before authorities had to close the road.
There was also a wastewater spillage at Playa del Cura that needed cleaning up after the drains overflowed, flooding a restaurant and causing heaps of other damage in the process.
Up in Denia, even the hospital wasn't spared. Some intensive care cubicles flooded and had to be shut down, which you can imagine didn't make life easy for the staff. Thirteen municipalities across the province decided to suspend classes on Tuesday, probably a wise call given the alerts.
But after all that chaos, Mother Nature has dramatically flipped a switch. From Wednesday onwards, it's been glorious. Clear skies, sunshine, temperatures shooting up well above what you'd normally expect for October. Parts of Andalucía and the Guadalquivir Valley have been hitting more than 30°C and some corners of the southeast have touched 34 to 36°C.
This little heatwave, often called an 'Indian summer' (though we're probably supposed to call it something else these days), is set to stick around for most of the weekend.
There might be a bit of drizzle up north on Saturday, but nothing to write home about. Sunday's looking a bit iffier, with cooler nights likely to follow, but for now? Make the most of it. After the week we've had, a bit of sunshine feels well deserved.
