Irish tourists travelling to Spain in the next few weeks have been warned they could be caught up in rare Mediterranean hurricanes.
Experts say the risk of tropical-like cyclones called medicanes have increased with this year’s record heatwaves affecting one of Ireland’s favourite holiday destinations and the rise in sea temperatures blamed on global warming.
Sea temperatures in parts of Spain’s Mediterranean coastline have reached 30 degrees Celsius this summer, around five degrees Celsius warmer than normal for this time of the year.
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The paradise island of Formentera off Ibiza recorded the highest temperature ever for the Balearic Islands on Saturday - a sweltering 44.5 degrees Celsius.
Oceanographer and weather expert Yurima Celdran, a marine sciences graduate who went on to do a masters degree in meteorology, said: “Higher Mediterranean temperatures provide a greater source of energy for medicanes and amplify their destructivity.
“Sea temperatures this autumn are expected to be higher than normal and if the necessary atmosphere conditions are in place, it would not be unreasonable to think the Mediterranean could harbour a medicane this year.”
Marine ecologist Carlos Duarte told Spanish daily El Mundo: “The highest and most imminent risk this year of this wave of marine heat is that the Mediterranean is very warm, and when it cools down in autumn, can lead to extreme episodes of stormy weather.
“In some places, medicanes could occur, which may be more intense than what we’ve experienced up to now.”
Five medicanes, which can lead to life-threatening torrential rains and flash floods, are said to have been recorded in the Mediterranean basin since 2011.
Torrential rain, terrifying lightning storms and flash floods in September 2019 which battered the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, claimed the lives of seven people.
The cost of the natural disaster, blamed on a type of storm called a DANA which can become medicanes, has been put at more than POUNDS one million and described as the most costly in Spain’s recent history.
A 22-year-old was killed and 32 people needed hospital treatment after a stage collapse at the Medusa electronic dance festival in Cullera near Valencia in the early hours of Saturday morning during a 50mph sandstorm.
The 4am drama has been blamed on a heat burst, a rare atmospheric phenomenon characterised by a sudden, localised increase in air temperature near the Earth’s surface.
Strong winds following a day of intense heat led to the subsequent cancellation of a second event called Crazy Urban Festival in the Costa Blanca resort of Torrevieja south of Alicante. It had been due to start at 4pm on Saturday.
Thousands of revellers at Ibiza beach club Ushuaia were evacuated during a packed party late on Saturday as strong gusts of winds battered the area.
Spanish press have already started sounding alarms about the likelihood of more extreme weather phenomenons in a few weeks’ time.
Respected Ibiza newspaper Diario de Ibiza published a report on Sunday about the risk of an imminent medicane, saying: “Will there be a hurricane in the Mediterranean this autumn after the heatwave?”
Specialist weather website tiempo.com, explaining winds can reach speeds of up to 93mph during a medicane, said: “After the hottest July on record, the Mediterranean has become a warm soup with temperatures of between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius.
“It’s clear that if sea temperatures continue to rise, the possibility of the right marine conditions existing for the formation of adverse phenomena like medicanes increase.”
Cyclone Ianos is considered to have been the last tropical-like cyclone or medicane in the region. It impacted the eastern Mediterranean on September 17 and 18 2020, especially Greece.
It reached its peak intensity of 159 km/h (99 mph) with wind gusts up to 195 km/h (121 mph) on 18 September, equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, before reaching land in southwestern Greece.
Five people were killed and a state of emergency declared in several islands including Zakynthos. The amount of damage it caused was put at more than €80 million.
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