Almeria, home to Europe’s only semi-desert, receives only around 130 mm of rain a year; the average yearly rainfall in Spain varies greatly.
The average rainfall in Spain is around 650 mm, with the ‘wet’ part of Spain receiving around 1,000 mm and the semi-arid regions receiving as little as 300 mm.
In Mediterranean Spain, along with the coastal areas, rainfall tends to be concentrated in just a few days, and within this, sometimes within a few hours. Figures of 100mm in one hour are not uncommon.
The record hourly rainfall in Mediterranean coastal towns was a remarkable 878 mm in Xàvia in 1957, followed 30 years later by 817 mm in Oliva (Valencia) on 3rd November 1987, 600 mm in Albuñol (Granada) on 19 October 1973, and 426 mm in Cofrentes (also Valencia) on 20 October 1987.
Another example of heavy rainfall is the 119mm that fell in one hour on 1 July 2003 in the village of Manuel in Valencia and, more recently the disastrous DANA storm that devastated villages around Valencia when over 300 millimetres of rain fell within just a few hours.