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Diari de Catalunya

Spring Instability Returns to Barcelona with Showers and Storms in May

A cold air mass at high altitude and warm sea temperatures are expected to bring intense downpours and hail starting the first week of May.

Image of a city under a stormy sky, with rain and distant lightning.
IA

Image of a city under a stormy sky, with rain and distant lightning.

The meteorological instability, characteristic of spring, is expected to return to Barcelona and several regions of Catalonia during the first week of May, bringing showers and storms.

This situation is due to a particular synoptic configuration, with two powerful anticyclones located in the Atlantic and the Eastern Mediterranean, which will facilitate the sustained entry of cold air towards the Iberian Peninsula. This high-altitude cold air mass, combined with still warm land surface temperatures and sea temperatures higher than usual, will create an ideal scenario for the formation of large cloud masses.
Forecasts indicate several rounds of intense downpours, accompanied by thunderstorms and, locally, hail, especially between Monday, May 4, and Wednesday, May 6. The days with the highest probability of intense precipitation will be Tuesday and Wednesday, when the region will be in the frontal part of the cold air pocket.
Before this, on Sunday, May 3, a line of instability associated with a disturbance in the United Kingdom will already strengthen showers and storms, especially in the Alt Pirineu and Aran. More than 50 liters per square meter could be recorded in areas such as Vall Fosca and Cabdella, and the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. Strong rains are also expected in the Lleida plain and the southern tip of the Terres de l'Ebre, with a snow level around 2,400 meters.
From Monday, showers could fall intensely in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, with a tendency to advance towards the pre-coastal and coastal areas. For Tuesday, intense downpours are expected in Camp de Tarragona, the south of the metropolitan area, Central Catalonia, and the regions of Girona. The snow level could drop to 1,800 meters on the northern slope of the Western Pyrenees by mid-week.
Regarding Barcelona and its surroundings, the most significant rains could arrive on Wednesday, favored by the reactivation of the mistral and tramontana winds, which would generate showers near the city, although very generous accumulations are not expected. This increase in instability will be accompanied by a drop in temperatures by mid-week, with frosts in the highest peaks of the Pyrenees and daytime temperatures between 15 and 22 ºC.

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