PALMA
LAST month was the third warmest April for the past 40 years, the national weather centre reported yesterday.
According to the April weather report, average temperatures were 2ºC higher than usual and monthly rainfall was 25 percent less than the norm.
Here in Majorca and Ibiza, the average temperatures were 1ºC above the April norms but, in Minorca, temperatures were slightly cooler than usual.
However, while we may have enjoyed basking in the sun last month, May has got off to one of its wettest and coldest starts on record and we have not seen the end of the bad weather yet!
The torrential rain which swamped the Balearics at the start of the week, was the heaviest to have fallen in Spain but fortunately, temperatures in the region took only a minor dive compared to some central areas of the mainland. Met. office sources reported yesterday that some central and northern cities watched over night temperatures plummet to below zero, -5ºC in Segovia, north of Madrid, for example.
Many of the northern areas also suffered falls of fresh snow. The met. office confirmed that, in general, temperatures across the country have been well below the norm for May and that in many parts of the country, such as here in the Balearics, they have yet to recover.
And, it appears that they may recover on Sunday, just hours before a new front of bad weather is forecast to hit the Balearics and the east coast of Spain, although conditions are not expected to be as severe as the beginning of the week with only light isolated showers currently forecast.