The ‘Gota Fria’
Late last night it started to rain and at 10.30am this morning it is still absolutely tipping it down. It’s Wonderful!
Are they mad, do I hear you guys in the UK saying? No, we’re not mad, just glad to see real rain here for the first time in 9 months. Apart from the odd nuisance shower of about 5-10 minutes duration this is the first time it’s rained properly since December. We can almost hear the plants in the garden saying, thank you, thank you!
We still breakfasted outside under our covered terrace though, or porche as it’s called in Spain. The only porche we will ever own that’s for sure! Temperatures dropped 4 degrees last night and the thermometer is reading 20 this morning, so it’s still quite warm. The pool, with it’s wonderful new cover, is still reading 26 but we don’t fancy swimming today. Wonder why!
This rain, at this time of the year, is called The Gota Fria. This means The Cold Drop. It happens due to warm air still coming over from Africa hitting the cooler sea and causing rain clouds. These clouds cannot get over the mountain ranges so they drop their load. thus, The Cold Drop!
It may last a day but we have known it tip down for 4 days not stop and then the weather usually turns lovely again, although a bit cooler than July and August. As the reservoirs are looking very low, we could probably do with a few days of this beautiful wet stuff, but we will see.
Now, what job can I find for Peter to do indoors today. Oh I know, we have a new work top waiting to be fitted in the utility room - I’ll just go and make a suggestion!
Thank you for the explanation I am studying Spanish and part of the research was to find out the reason for the terminology Gota Fria do you have any more information on this subject?
March 8th, 2006 at 11:54 am
Remember the song La Gota Fria. This is the heart of Colombian culture. There you will find you answer.
September 18th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Please tell me where in Spain you are. We have a property near Mazarron and although we only use it as a holiday home at present we still want to see decent rain for our garden and for the sake of the local farming community on whom we depend for our fresh fruit and veg.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Sad that anyone can find anything so destructive so wonderful! Having lost our luxury villa and all our belongings to the gota fria we think it’s the most disgusting thing on earth.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Here in Javea, we’ve had nearly 6 inches of rain today alone - Valencia has had nearly a foot of water - 5 inches of which feel in just an hour this morning.
All our motorway exists and main roads are now closed off according to the emergency radio reports - and boats on the canal are floating away.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
The devastation in some parts of the Northern Costa Blanca was considerable. It appears that some people lost their lives and others are missing. There are some photos taken by our camera club members on the link above.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:30 am