evamar

Last summer we went to Rascafría in Madrid for a friend's wedding and spent the weekend there... Rasca-Fría.. you can guess it was very cold. And I mean in August! They have some pozas there and some brave people went in for a bath... I put my big toe in the poza only to quickly retire it before it dropped, it was already purple! Lovely place, I really like the sierras.

megmet

We had to go to Alhaurin el Grande today, IMO it's a God forsaken town and not a place I like even on a sunny day.
Today it excelled, at one stage a boat would have been a better option than a car as the main street was just a torrent of water.
We carried on down into Fuengirola and it was even worse there, the Carretera de Coin was flooded as it nears the river, last week there was not a drop of water in that river...today it was in full flow!
I felt really sorry for one young man, perhaps he didn't know the road as his car had slipped over the edge of the road and had ended up on it's side in the storm drain channel, the car was still there some hours later as we set off back home.

I think here we can say the gota fria has arrived, it certainly feels like it, I'm dressed in winter clothes, have bought a radiator for the bedroom and our logs for the fire arrive tomorrow.

fionamw

I agree it was foul, wetter than wet and all sorts of people had all sorts of problems - the Bomberos had their work cut out. But technicality - this isn't the gota fria down here, is it? I thought that was a Costa Blanca phenomenon?

steviedeluxe

Back in the UK the rains have arrived for some. Just been looking on the box at flooded roads and homes in northern Ireland and Cornwall. Yet a little east and there are drought conditions in the Midlands - rain's forecast in the next couple of days though.
Clocks go back at the weekend folks. Summer is now officially a memory.

megmet

The gota fria mostly occur in the Valencia region, but they can happen anywhere along that coast and on occasion even on the Atlantic coast too if the conditions are right for it.
They have also been known to happen as far south as Tenerife, basically they happen when hot moist air from the sea rises and hits a cold front, and they can spread across thousands of kilometres.

The worst I ever experienced was many years ago near Jerez! The road simply disappeared under a lake of water and it was impossible to drive on, we spent eight hours in a venta there until it was safe to continue....
I have never seen it's like either before or since... and don't want to again!

lynnxa

no - you can get a gota fría all along the med coast

an even bigger technicality though is that a gota fría doesn't necessarily mean a lot of rain............although it will usually mean short heavy downpours

more importantly - just because it rains a lot, it doesn't mean that it's a gota fría!

the reason one is predicted this year is because we are expecting a blast of cold air, while the land & sea temps are still unusually high for the time of year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_drop

paintermujer

Yes we have had rain too.

But the Gota Fria belongs to the Alicante area.Still a large area though but my god you know it when you get it.

lynnxa

it doesn't...............anywhere on the med coast can get it

Dick Dasterdly

Looks like the Catalans and Basques are taking a bit of a beating at present.

Not been too bad yet close to Valencia, but there's a few floods a little further South.

Looks like we could get it before the end of the week.

Domino

hardly stopped raining in Granada for 3 days now

lynnxa

it's supposed to be glorious today (bloody cold sitting here atm tho ) but that will be followed by several days of ..........................rain

HBG

The Gota Fria is late in Alicante this year and everybody is fearfully awaiting it. The local council has cleared the drains like never before and dug the flood channels deeper. I put on long trousers for the first time yesterday after the usual six months in shorts, and it really felt uncomfortable.

I've just watched the Spanish weather news and all the heavy stuff is heading this way, but yet another sunny day is forecast for today in my area.

lynnxa

yes, a lovely day is forecast today - but it is seriously windy out there atm - and that usually heralds something nasty on the way

Dick Dasterdly

Ah well at least there was one week of nice Autumn weather in between four months and more of infierno and the forthcoming icebox.

Lionda

Hey take your rain back It arrived here yesterday evening and is raining again this morning.