I have not known such a hard winter for years in Mallorca -wet, windy and cold and that goes for all of the Balearic islands. The six storms that hit the Balearics in the first month of the year made this January the seventh wettest since 1961 in the region, with an average rainfall of 115.2 litres per square metre, 91% more than normal.
January was very wet across all the islands, especially in the second half of the month, due to a succession of up to six high-impact storms that brought heavy rainfall, very strong winds and rough seas, according to the monthly report from the Balearic branch of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).
With an average temperature of 11 °C and an anomaly of 0.8, January was however a mild month throughout the Balearics. In Mallorca, 119.9 l/m² of rain fell, double the normal amount of 59.5 l/m², with widespread rainfall across most of the island. The highest monthly rainfall was recorded in the Serra de Tramontana: in Lluc, with 308.9 l/m² (101% above normal) and Son Torrella, with 281.6 l/m² (75% more).
Of particular note are the 116.2 l/m² recorded in Palma, Porto Pi, which is 3.2 times higher than normal, in the fourth wettest January since 1978, 48 years ago. The highest daily rainfall was also recorded in the Tramuntana mountains, where on the 19th, 124.5 l/m² fell in Lluc and 102.8 l/m² in Son Torrella. There were 4 days of snow, which is normal for January, 6 days of fog and 7 days of storms in Mallorca.
In addition, January was very windy in the archipelago. Palma airport broke the record for strong wind days in January with 15, when the normal is 5 days. The maximum wind gust reached 158 km/h from the north-west in Alfàbia on the 31st. In Mallorca, at the Dragonera buoy, there were 3 days with significant wave heights greater than 4 metres, the highest being 4.7 metres on 20 January.
As for the temperature, the average in Mallorca was 11 °C, with an anomaly of 0.6. The highest maximum was 20.6 °C in Artà on the 13th; the lowest minimum was -3.7 °C in Escorca on the 7th.
In Mallorca, the number of days with frost has decreased: in Lluc, there were 5 days of frost, when the normal number is 9; in Son Torrella, there were 4, when the normal number is 10; and in Campos, there were 3 instead of 6. The coldest night was on 7 January, when there were 12 stations with frost.