Saturday, August 09, 2008

A wet Autumn

The lack of wind and the stagnation of the hot air coming from the Sahara, the so called "barometric marsh", are creating high sea temperatures. The sea temperature has been increasing progressively since mid July. At 28 degrees it is just two degrees short of the temperature it reached in 2003. The tropical sea temperatures of that year brought torrential rain in the Autumn - the gota fria or cold drop.

However, the gota fria is not so predictable. We had one in 2007 when sea temperatures were high but in other years, with similar temperatures, it didn't happen.

One thing for sure, the relative humidity at the moment is high. The poor air circulation is again the cause of that. At Alicante airport yesterday the humidity was 100% at 7am. In Torrevieja it was 75%. The high humidity makes the temperatures feel higher. So although it was 30 degrees it felt more like 42.

Today has started a little cloudy with a light variable wind on the coast. Temperatures will be about the same.

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