DECEMBER WAS ONE OF THE WETTEST FOR 60 YEARS

PALMA
WITH the wet and windy weather continuing to dominate the agenda here in the Balearics, the Met. office reported yesterday that last month was the fifth wettest December since records began 60 years ago - and at this rate, January will also be etching its place in the record books.

The Balearics was on level one weather alert yesterday and that will be stepped up to level two for the north of the island and Minorca today for gale force winds and, as the Bulletin reported yesterday, Majorca's two main reservoirs are close to over flowing because of the unusually heavy rains.

According to the Met. office, rainfall for last month was double the December average and, in general, temperatures across Spain were also slightly lower than usual.

Although, here in the Balearics, December's temperatures were a touch higher than the December averages.
But, the main phenomena was the rain.
The normal December rainfall is 81 mm per square metre but last month, average rainfall was 155 mm per square metre - nearly double making it the wettest December since 1996 and the fifth wettest over the past 60 years.

The wettest days here in the Balearics were December 13 and 14 when a near record 155 mm of rain was recorded per square metre and the rain has not given us much of a break since the beginning of the year with a wave of heavy downpours over the past two weeks causing isolated flooding and serious damage to properties in various parts of the island.

And yesterday, the destruction continued.
Gale force six winds brought down over 30 trees in various areas.
Palma was hit again as was Calvia, Puigpunyent, Banyalbufar and Andratx which appears to always get caught in the eye of the storms.