ARCHIVED - Muddy rain is more common in Murcia than anywhere else in Spain!

Washing the car or the patio in the Costa Cálida brings more frustration than in the rest of the country!

A study undertaken by the meteorologists of Aemet in the Region of Murcia confirms what many car owners (and patio washers) will have suspected all along, concluding that the Costa Cálida is the part of mainland Spain with most episodes of rain falling as mud in the entire Iberian Peninsula.

It only takes a few very light spots of rainfall carrying Saharan dust particles to leave recently washed cars with their windscreens covered in a thin film of mud, causing considerable annoyance among drivers who could be forgiven for thinking that the weather gods are conspiring against them every time they wash the car. Similarly, the mud and dust accumulates on patios and balconies, and washing left out to dry can sometimes need to be taken straight back to the machine while the line has to be wiped down: these situations soon become a part of life for those living in the Costa Cálida, however alien they may seem to readers in northern Europe!

Some might be surprised that the incidence of mud-rain is higher in Murcia than in the neighbouring province of Almería, where there is a large extent of desert landscape, but the nationwide study found, for example, that last year there were 13 such episodes in the Region, some of them lasting for more than one day, and that the latest was on 22^nd January 2020. Other areas where the phenomenon is relatively frequent include the Balearics, and the study confirms that it is generally caused by mineral dust from the Sahara rather than from the Iberian Peninsula itself.

The study also found that in mainland Spain and the Balearics muddy rain is most common in the month of May, while in the Canaries it is more commonly associated with August and September.

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