The Canary Islands closed the hydrological year 2023-2024, which began on October 1, 2023 and ended on September 30, in a situation of drought, and in a "good part" of the archipelago, rainfall was 50% lower than normal values.
In the south of the islands with the greatest relief and in almost all of Fuerteventura, 50 liters per square meter were not reached during this entire period.
This is reflected in the balance published today, Thursday, by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), which highlights that the hydrological year was humid in the whole of peninsular Spain, although with a "very uneven" geographical distribution of rainfall: 671 liters accumulated per square meter, 5% above the average.
This is the twenty-sixth wettest hydrological year in the historical series, which consists of 64 years whose start is located in 1961.
Rainfall has been abundant in the northwest and center of the peninsula and scarce in the eastern end and the archipelagos.
Although it has rained more than the average in almost all of Spain, the areas of Levante and the Canary and Balearic archipelagos, which began the period suffering from the scarcity of rainfall of the previous three years, have ended it without abandoning the drought situation.
The last hydrological year was humid, but the two previous ones were very dry and, as a result, "we can still speak of a long-term drought situation in the south and northeast of the peninsula," warned Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo.
Given the very irregular geographical distribution of rainfall, the provinces bathed by the Mediterranean ended the hydrological year in a situation of meteorological drought. Both archipelagos as well.
The provinces with the highest intensity in that Mediterranean area that register this meteorological drought continue to be those of the southeastern peninsula: Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and Almería.
During the period, 671 l/m² were accumulated, a value that is 5% above the normal average for the reference period 1991-2020, estimated at 640 l/m².
"The most remarkable thing about the hydrological year that has just ended was, without a doubt, the uneven distribution of rainfall," according to del Campo.
In the northwest of the peninsula, the eastern Cantabrian, the Navarrese and also Aragonese Pyrenees, more than 1,500 liters per square meter were exceeded; even in points in western Galicia, more than 2,500 liters per square meter were exceeded.
On the other hand, in the extreme southeast of the peninsula, 120 liters per square meter were not reached and in some areas of the provinces of Almería and Murcia, not even 80 liters.
Rainfall was also very scarce in the south of the Canary Islands with the greatest relief and in a good part of Fuerteventura; in those areas, 50 liters per square meter were not even reached.
Dominance of Atlantic storms
"This distribution of rainfall within the hydrological year shows the dominance of Atlantic storms over the typical rainfall situations of the Mediterranean, more conditioned by the presence of danas or Mediterranean lows," explained the Aemet spokesman.
Although it is common for accumulated amounts to be higher in the northwest peninsula than in the southeast, in the last hydrological year this situation "has been much more pronounced than usual," he added.
For example, the accumulation basin of the north and northwest has received rainfall that represents 123% of normal. Even in points of Galicia, 150% of normal has been reached.
The Tagus basin has also received rainfall above the average, 127%; rainfall is at 127% compared to normal and, on the other hand, the accumulation basin of southern Andalusia has only received 52% of normal rainfall.
That of Segura, 50%, given that "it has only rained half of what is normal"; in a good part of the Canary Islands, rainfall has remained below 50% of normal values.
