Did anyone experience the downpour in the middle of Madrid at around 12:45 today? UN-BELIEVABLE! One minute it was calm, the next I knew I could barely see out the window!

I did, Murdy! It was really incredible, eh? I was at the gym, having walked there WITHOUT my umbrella because it wasn't raining when I left home, and I heard this loud roard outside. When I looked out the windows I, like you, could barely see anything! And I thought, "Oh my goodness. I might as well swim home!" But luckily, by the time I left it had stopped raining completely. Got home, thought, "THIS might be my ONLY time to wash clothes" so I did, hung them upstairs on the terraza at about 4pm, checked them at 7:30pm and many were still damp so I left them there. AT NINE O'CLOCK (or thereabouts) I HEARD THE RAIN AGAIN and ran upstairs to take down the once-dry-now-wet clothes. UGH! Now, as I type this at 8:335am the next morning, I have clothing draped all over the house and most things are dry. And with cooler temperatures and damp air, of course, it takes MUCH longer for the clothes to dry. Oh, how we're (in the USA, for the most part) spoiled with our clothes dryers.

Right now, at this moment, on Channel 1 TVE "La Primera", they're saying that, for the moment, it has stopped raining in Galicia but the work continues to remove the mud. Some "experts" on the beach were talking about the berberechos and how there may not be a "crop" available for the Christmas holiday season - a popular time in Spain to eat/buy them. Today, they now say, it'll still rain in many parts of Spain but after today it should stop for at least a few days. I read yesterday that in Madrid it's going to get up to almost 80ºF!! (wow, the woman announcing the morning weather on TVE is REALLY something)

Saludos, MadridMan

I can remember pretty strong storms when I was a child (oh... that makes me sound as an ancient... :p ).

What was not normal were the last three years. Madrid has a continental climate, which means extreme temperatures in summer (42ºC) and winter (-5ºC).

Let it rain for a couple of days! The Sun will shine brighter when it's over

Fernando

I too being coming to Madrid steady since 1989 and previously lived in 1970-1972. the rains lately are too much all over and the the traffic does gets worse in the rain.
Maybe we should let rain in the country and not in the cities?ja ja ja

Well, the rain is back and going to stay with us for a few more days on the extended forecast. Hopefully this will start to alieviate the drought somewhat.

Here in Granada it was raining CATS AND DOGS while I was strolling the hills of the Albaycín yesterday afternoon and got back to my hostel "damp" from the knees down. There was a virtual river going down my street on the Cuesta de Gómerez - the hill which goes up to the Alhambra. Today it may NOT rain in Granada for a change and hope for the same Monday when I go to the Alhambra.

Saludos, MadridMan

OK, I have to admit, I'm getting a liiiiitle sick and tired of this rain. This time the rian started Thursday p.m. and basically did not stop until Sunday a.m. Yes, I know I said we need it, but I wouls like to propose it be more evenly distributed throughout the year!!!

The reservoirs, by the way, are at 45%, which means they have gone up some 8 percentage points in just a few weeks. That's a lot of water. They levels should continue to rise in the next few days. And with any luck, the snows this winter will help even more. So, we still aren't out of the dire situation yet, but we are certainly heading in the right direction.

I´ve just read a very interesting report contradicting what appears to be a UN based effort to convince us that global warming is causing climatic change.

For those interested here is the link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml

Very interesting article, Jamongris. I have been following this subject informally for some time, and one thing is clear, no matter how much we are told that the temperatures are rising and that Man is at fault, there is a lot of evidence that at least suggests that those assertions are far from conclusive. Temperatures have risen somewhat, that's true. But how much and what the actual cause is has yet to be fully determined. there are some that even say northern Europe may be heading for an Ice Age. I think there was a report on that in the BBC. Did you see it?

No I missed that one Murdy. Was it on BBC world or one of the other channels ?

Climate change is interesting, and I also like statistics (I can almost feel people skipping the rest of this post now). So when I see a report suggesting that climate change is not as severe as is generally being reported, it´s interesting to see how statistics have been changed and manipulated to back up pet theories.

There´s a very good book called "How to lie with statistics" by Darrell Huff which is far more interesting than I am on the subject.

More rain here all day today and forecast for tomorrow too !