Tourists planning to visit Spain this week are urged to exercise caution as Storm Oscar approaches, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to the country.
With gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour, it is crucial for visitors to prioritise their safety and be aware of the potential risks associated with severe weather conditions.
Spain’s national forecaster AEMET named the storm and issued several Status Orange and Status Yellow weather warnings which affect much of the country.
The Canary Islands and coastal regions along the western and northern parts of Spain, popular among tourists, are expected to experience the strongest impact from Storm Oscar, an intense weather system originating from the Atlantic.
Issuing an update on Monday, AEMET said: “An extensive storm located today, Monday, southwest of the Azores islands, with several systems frontal within it, will deepen and bring the Canary Islands closer over the next few days, giving place to an episode of intense rains and winds in the archipelago during Tuesday 6 and the Wednesday 7, mainly in the western islands.
“In reality, they are successive small lows in subtropical latitudes within the great storm, with its associated fronts and high moisture content, which will impact on the islands. One of these small storms will deepen especially, forming the squall Oscar, who will be the protagonist of this episode.
“This meteorological situation will give rise, both on Tuesday and Wednesday, to rains generalised, persistent and locally strong or very strong, less intense and frequent in the easternmost islands. The interaction of the southwest wind with the orography of the islands will enhance rainfall, mainly on the western and southern slopes of the islands with the highest relief. Rainfall is likely to be accompanied by thunderstorms on Wednesday.
“On the other hand, the intense pressure gradient associated with Oscar will cause strong winds from the southwest, with very strong gusts of 70 km/h on the northwest and east slopes of the larger islands relief. Locally, 90 km/h will be exceeded, especially on summits and the northwest slope from La Palma and Tenerife.
“The Oscar storm will move to the northeast, at the end of Tuesday the 6th to the west of the Peninsula, where it will remain for several days, probably until the weekend. The effects on the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands will be more limited than in the Canary Islands and will consist of mainly in fairly widespread rains from Wednesday the 7th, being less probable and intense in the eastern zone. In the western third of the peninsula they could be locally more intense and be accompanied by a storm.
“It is very probable that on Thursday the 8th, with the removal of Oscar and his associated fronts from Canary Islands, end this episode of rain and intense winds in the archipelago.”
