Scottish tourists heading to Spain over the next few weeks have been issued with a waning amid a change in weather.
According to experts, travellers heading abroad could be caught in rare Mediterranean hurricanes.
The risk of tropical-like cyclones, called 'medicanes', is said to have increased with the record heatwaves during the past year.
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As reported by the Irish Mirror, sea temperatures in parts of Spain’s Mediterranean coastline have reached 30C this summer which is around 5C warmer than average for this time of the year.
Areas such as the island of Formentera, located off Ibiza, recorded the highest temperature ever for the Balearic Islands on Saturday noting a high of 44.5C.
Oceanographer and weather expert Yurima Celdran, a marine sciences graduate who went on to do a masters degree in meteorology, explained: “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. In September 2019, torrential rain, lightning storms and flash floods which battered the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, claimed the lives of seven people.
There has also been instances where thousands of revellers at an Ibiza beach club were evacuated during a packed party late on Saturday as strong gusts of winds battered the area. Now 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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