Majorca's beaches are turned white with ICE as freak storm hits the tourist hot spot

Majorca was battered by freakish hailstorms yesterday that near renowned tourer hotspots connected the Spanish land covered successful crystal and overrun with flood waters.  

Tourists and locals alike were sent moving for screen arsenic immense hailstones pelted the edifice of Porto Cristo, wherever idyllic beaches turned from aureate to achromatic successful a substance of minutes arsenic chunks of crystal blanketed the sand.

Municipalities specified arsenic Manacor, Sant Llorenç and Sa Pobla were the worst affected, but ample swathes of the islands were engulfed successful the deluge. 

Shocking video footage circulating connected societal media showed however furnishings and tiles connected typically sun-soaked decking extracurricular hotels and backstage flats were smashed by the hailstorms arsenic holidaymakers cowered inside. 

Spain's authorities upwind work AEMET issued yellowish upwind warnings for Majorca and Menorca, informing that up to 50 litres of rainfall per quadrate metre drenched Manacor successful conscionable fractional an hour, triggering flash floods.

The warnings are successful spot until this evening with parts of the land present facing betwixt 60 and 70 litres of rainfall per quadrate metre successful 2 oregon 3 hours.

The culprit down the uncommon and destructive upwind signifier was put down to what is known successful Spain arsenic 'DANA' - abbreviated for 'Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos' oregon 'Isolated Depression astatine High Levels'.

These phenomena signifier erstwhile a pouch of acold aerial detaches from the pitchy watercourse implicit the Atlantic and settles implicit warmer Mediterranean air. 

The resulting clash successful temperatures and pressures creates aggravated instability, often unleashing torrential rain, convulsive hailstorms, and flash floods implicit abbreviated periods.

DANAs nutrient erratic and slow-moving storms which tin dump tremendous volumes of h2o and hail implicit the aforesaid portion successful hours. 

In Spain, wherever the crushed is often adust and the infrastructure ill-prepared for flooding, these deluges tin create havoc. 

The tempest engulfing Majorca comes days aft akin downpours punished towns successful Valencia little than six months connected from catastrophic flooding successful the region which near much than 230 radical dead.

British holidaymakers were warned against travelling aft first-sized hail hammered the fashionable portion successful eastern Spain connected Thursday amid orangish upwind warnings by AEMET denoting 'significant danger'.

The hailstorm and resulting floods gave mode to chaotic scenes arsenic Valencians rushed for screen successful a period wherever daytime temperatures typically hover astir 20 degrees Celsius.

Scarcely believable footage showed however vehicles sustained harm from the hail arsenic others became stuck amid crystal floes respective inches heavy successful Villar del Arzobispo, with residents powerless to escaped them.

Other shocking clips circulating connected societal media showed the deluge gushing done the typically sun-kissed streets of Guadassequies and l'Olleria.

The abrupt tempest heaped misery connected the region's residents, galore of whom mislaid their livelihoods successful the historical 'cold drop' that occurred successful October 2024, triggering monolithic flooding which killed 232 people.

The authorities' perceived inadequacies successful exigency preparation, connection and effect to past year's upwind improvement - referred to by the Spanish acronym DANA - near millions disillusioned.

Those flash floods followed days after a historical powerfulness outage near astir each of Spain without energy for hours.

Valencians had planned a monolithic objection to telephone for the resignation of determination president Carlos Mazon, but it was cancelled owed to the powerfulness outage.

Roughly a 3rd of Spain remained nether yellowish oregon orangish upwind warnings implicit the play with AEMET informing of 'very beardown storms, with ample hail and beardown upwind gusts successful areas of the northbound and eastbound of the Peninsula'.

The bureau said the highly irregular conditions bore the hallmarks of a 'cyclonic supercell storm', a upwind lawsuit which brings terrible thunderstorms and hail, but it was aboriginal identified arsenic a DANA-induced upwind event. 

It added that the tempest was 'spreading anomalously, deviating importantly southeastward comparative to the question of the different storms successful its vicinity, which are moving eastward.'

The perilous conditions successful Spain are symptomatic of a wider inclination successful Europe, which faced its astir wide flooding past twelvemonth since 2013.

Floodwaters killed astatine slightest 335 radical successful Europe successful 2024 - galore of them successful Spain - and affected much than 410,000, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organisation said successful a associated study connected Europe's clime past month.

Western Europe was deed hardest, with 2024 ranking among the region's 10 wettest years successful records going backmost to 1950.

Storms and flooding are Europe's costliest upwind extremes, past twelvemonth causing harm exceeding €18 cardinal euros.

Globally, 2024 was besides the world's warmest twelvemonth since records began, arsenic good arsenic the warmest for Europe - the planet's fastest-warming continent.

The satellite is present astir 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than successful pre-industrial times, chiefly owed to human-caused clime change.

Southeastern Europe had its longest vigor question connected record, totalling 13 days, portion Scandinavia's glaciers shrank astatine the highest rates connected record, and vigor accent accrued crossed the continent.

Much of Eastern Europe suffered a deficiency of rainfall and drought, portion floods ravaged occidental Europe.

Nearly a 3rd of Europe's wide stream web exceeded a 'high' flood threshold, portion 12% breached 'severe' flood levels successful 2024.

Storm Boris successful September dumped the heaviest rainfall ever recorded successful Central Europe onto countries, including Austria, Czechia, Germany and Slovakia.