Spanish views from a small town

So, Carnival is over, not that there was much of one this year. Our township had a virtual celebration, in which everyone could send in videos of themselves dressed up, as well as of how they lamented the burial of the sardine, the Toribiño, on Ash Wednesday. I didn't participate, and don't know how many did, but there were cash prizes for the best costumes. At any rate, now onward to Holy Week. Which will not be celebrated this year, either. At least, the processions have been cancelled just about everywhere. I assume that, if restrictions are relaxed, Masses will be allowed, but with many fewer attendees allowed. At the moment, for example, funerals are only allowed to have fifteen mourners.  Restrictions will probably be further relaxed next week. I hope so, though not as much as in Madrid. There, things are very relaxed. On the midday news, they showed café terraces filled with people sitting not so far apart, and mostly without masks. This, despite Madrid having the highes...

Heavy rain and high winds are forecast for tomorrow. And an orange alert for conditions along the coast. One of the first fall storms is about to arrive, bringing a cold front with it, and much colder air behind, with highs next week barely reaching 16ºC/60ºF. But this storm system is just the prelude to a week with low pressure areas forming just next to us, one after the other. As long as it's followed by some sun at some point, I'll have to take it. There was a winter at the beginning of this century when it was storm after storm. We would celebrate a day in which we could see blue sky and remember what the sun's warmth was like. Wind and rain was our lot during the worst of the winter months. Yes, things are changing. My apple trees tend to blossom twice a year, now, though they only give fruit after the spring blossoming. Gorse blooms in March, but this year it also blooms in October. Some years, we've gone to the beach in October, though this year it doesn't l...

A low pressure area just off the Iberian peninsula to the west came closer today, acting more like a tropical depression, and actually trying to form into one. Yellow warnings are out for rain this afternoon and evening, possibly reaching 15 liters per square meter in one hour. Until the clouds started getting thicker this afternoon, it was actually a hazy, warm, and dry day. The barn cats were lazing out in the garden, wrapped up in round balls, sleeping on the grass. Then, the day got darker, and, as the storms started approaching from the south, thunder start to rumble softly. One low growl of thunder, louder than the rest, startled the cats. They got up, and looked out to the hills behind the house. One of the young cats born this spring came running in from the garden, her tail a bottle brush, and created her own lightning bolt as she streaked to the barn.  It's understandable. The young cats born this spring have never heard thunder. For some reason, we haven't had any th...

These days the weather is very temperate, not at all normal for June, especially after a rather warmer than usual winter and spring. The forecast for this summer is for weather drier than normal, and warm, but not asphyxiating, temperatures.  Another forecast is for hurricanes. In the past couple of years, various hurricanes have decided to head northeast instead of continuing westward. They were mostly extra-tropical, that is, formed just outside tropical waters. But in October of last year, Hurricane Paul formed off our waters in the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic. That's very extra-tropical.  Climate change is spurring such anomalies. If years ago, it was common to have a hurricane change track once every ten years, now, it's becoming common for western Europe to face a hurricane at least once every year. At the moment, they're mostly category 1, but if ocean waters keep getting warmer, they will grow in intensity, as well. I remember Hurricane David back i...

This Carnival is turning out to be a wet, sopping, mess. Parades and celebrations have been postponed to next weekend, as rain and high winds laugh at our attempts to enjoy ourselves. But, very possibly, next weekend celebrations will have to be postponed again . Rain and windy weather have been promised through the coming weekend. We had been having a mild, temperate winter till now. Yes, we have had days of rain, but it hasn't really been violent. Until yesterday. Wind gusts of over a hundred kilometers per hour in the entire region. Red alert on the shore with waves of over twelve meters. Persistent, hard rain. In some northern cities seawater and sand have invaded city streets and destroyed stone benches and balustrades. Airplanes have had to be detoured from Vigo to Porto in Portugal. Worst of all, a 20-month-old child was ripped from his grandfather's arms when they got too close to the raging sea.  Apparently the weather this week is due to a stratospheric warming. W...