UK tourists heading to popular Spanish destination hit by rare red warning

UK tourists are being warned of an ‘extreme risk’ of heavy rain as Spain issues a rare red weather alert for a popular tourist region. Heavy rains and storms are forecast for Seville and the surrounding area this weekend.

Spain’s national weather agency Aemet has issued warnings for the Andalusia and Extremadura regions for Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12 as an “Atlantic storm” moves towards the country. It comes only days after former Hurricane Kirk brought stormy conditions to the north west of the country earlier this week.

Today amber warnings for ‘significant risk’ of rain, with 100mm expected in 12 hours, are in place for Seville and the nearby areas. The coastal area of Cadiz and parts of western Spain are under yellow warnings for rain. The south-west of Spain is also covered by a yellow warning for storms.

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Forecasters said: “An Atlantic storm is expected to deepen and approach the west of the peninsula, leaving a predominance of cloudy or overcast skies, with precipitation advancing from southwest to northeast and affecting the Atlantic slope and the western Cantabrian Sea.”

Conditions are set to worsen on Saturday, when the red weather alert comes into place. It covers the mountain range north of Seville where 120mm of rain is expected in 12 hours. The Los Pedroches area is also covered by the red rain warning.

The yellow warning for storms remains in place for the region for Saturday, while an amber warning for rain covers Seville, the surrounding area and along the south-west coast.

Forecasting for Saturday, Aemet said: “The Peninsula and the Balearic Islands are expected to remain under the influence of a low pressure system and its fronts. They are expected to leave cloudy or overcast skies and widespread rainfall on the Atlantic side and northeast of the peninsula. They may be locally strong and/or persistent and may cause storms in the west of the southern Atlantic side, especially in Atlantic Andalusia and the west of the Central system.”

No warnings are in place for Sunday yet with conditions set to improve, but rain and thunderstorms “cannot be ruled out”.

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