Alicante Crazy Weather

We had a really freaky weather front roll in through Alicante yesterday morning... and I mean literally rolled in from somewhere inland out to sea. I was sitting at my table in the middle of the day when I suddenly noticed how dark it was and looked up to see this huge black cloud over the Castle. The really cool skies made me reach for my camera to take a couple of shots....

I ended up mesmerized by the advancing storm, watching the opposite coast around the Bay of Alicante gradually disappear into the cloud...

I was shocked by the amount of water running through the storm drain built after a major flood in 1997 (my dad couldn't even get the car out of the garage to come pick me up at the University it was so bad)... but even more surprising was how quickly it all came -in a matter of minutes- and went! 

Less than an hour later the skies were pretty much cleared up and most of the water was gone...

Those are strange storms, but it's the way it usually rains here in Alicante, sudden and strong but short bursts. But when the hard rain goes on for over an hour, then we get floods... (usually in the Fall). People have been complaining about the really wet winter we had this year, but at least it was soft, gentle rain most of the time... good for the soil and the reservoirs. Not this torrential rains that drag everything along with them. It wrecks havoc on some of the beaches as well...

Playa de la Albufereta May 3rd 2010 (from Facebook group)

As I said I was mesmerized by the storm (which turned out to be hail!) and kept fluctuating between my camera and my cell phone for some video. I've put it together in the video below, adding time stamps so you can get an idea how quickly things progressed. I trust you'll recognise the music... seemed an appropriate choice! ;o)
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The rest of Spain got hit pretty badly too... some mountain towns got snowed in again and a few mountain passes required the use of chains.

Beach and satellite photos from the blog Alicante Vivo.

A Mediterranean Oven and the travelling Sahara...

Huh? Travelling Sahara?! Yup! I'll bet you guys didn't know deserts like to travel, eh? ;o)

(photo from National Geographic)

See, they have this nice fine element called SAND (and the sand from the Sahara is a very fine grain) that just loves to get picked up on the wind heading north and go visit other places around the Mediterranean. When it reaches us we call this wind by one of two names: Sirocco or Lebeche. The Sirocco comes in as a southeast wind (from the coast of Algeria for example), very strong, usually ripping it's way across the Mediterranean so charged with humidity and lots of sand (you should see the state of cars parked in the street once it's over!). The Lebeche on the other hand hits Alicante as a southwest wind (there's a better definition on the Spanish wikipedia page). It also starts off in the Sahara (but let's say from Morrocco), but makes its way across the Peninsula, leaving any moisture it may have had stuck behind the mountain ranges it crosses in the form of rain. By the time it reaches us it's hot and very DRY! (this is known as the Foehn effect)

Let me tell you about the weather today. It's hot, damn HOT! So hot I'm having trouble breathing! It's barely past noon and I've already drunk a litre of water!

Here's what the internet says:

35�C (is 32�C in the house)
15% humidity

That's what, about 95�F? Just so you know, the temperature rarely goes over 32�C here and the humidity in summer is almost always above 70%...

There's a lovely breeze blowing through the apartment, but somehow it just makes things worse!

and then there's this:

the view from the balcony.

Lovely, right? Well the horizon is only supposed to be this crisp in winter! When the humidity is lower than summer. I can't remember the last time I didn't see a hazy horizon in summer!

The wind is coming in from the southwest... so I'm wondering of the Lebeche is paying us a visit... GO AWAY!!! I want to be able to breathe again!

And to think I need to make my way into town this morning to pick up a few things... if it's this hot out here at the Cabo, the center is really going to be a furnace! I'm imagining 40�C in the parking garage where I'm going to leave the car. Yikes! I think I'll high-tail it to my parents place with some material to work on in a lovely air-conditioned environment! :p