'Calima' and rain is forecast for the south of Spain, with a big red dust cloud coming from the Sahara desert.

The situation could be similar to that of two years ago, when a massive airborne haze of sand arrived from North Africa, according to the weather experts at Meteored.

The weather forecast brings some concerning news to the Andalucía region of southern Spain this week. With Easter just around the corner, the next few days will be marked with the arrival of strong 'calima' haze of Saharan desert sand from North Africa and the formation of a Dana (high level depression at a high altitude) in the southwest of the Spanish mainland that could bring rain in the middle of the week. Additionally, maximum temperatures will continue to be higher than normal for this time of year, with highs close to 30C.

Read the full story at Sur in English

Could this Easter be another record-breaker for Spain? Forecasts are hinting at a significantly warmer March, challenging the norms for the spring period.

The initial predictions from meteorologists reveal that Spain is poised to experience above-average temperatures for the majority of March.

By the end of the month, which aligns with Easter holidays, warmer temperatures are expected to spread across the country.

Read the full story at the EWN

A weather phenomenon known as ‘blood rain’ is coming to much of Spain this week.

Temperatures will remain relatively high but a new DANA – an area of high isolated pressure – will bring rainfall to western and central parts of the country on Thursday.

Read the full story at The Olive Press

The construction of the high-speed line between Murcia and Almeria, a strategic axis of the Mediterranean Corridor that will connect the southeast of Spain with the European networks to which an investment of more than 3,800 million euros has been allocated, is progressing at an unstoppable pace and is over 50% complete in all the sections under construction from Pulpí to the capital. One of the main symbols of this gradual flowering of railway infrastructures is the construction of the longest viaduct in the province over the Andarax River between the municipalities of Viator, Huércal de Almería and the capital. With a length of 1,414 metres and a row of 43 spans, this bridge is one of the structures that will most change the physiognomy of the landscape on an itinerary of more than 200 kilometres until it ends at Murcia del Carmen station.

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

The Ministry of Health lifts the measure as of this Saturday, February 10, but recommends its use in medical centres or in places with vulnerable people.

The Minister of Health and Consumption of the Junta de Andalucía, Catalina García, has confirmed that from this coming Saturday, February 10, it will no longer be mandatory to wear masks in hospitals and Primary Care centers in Andalusia, but has remarked that the regional administration will continue to "recommend" wearing them in emergency centers, in infectious diseases, oncology and haematology wards, and "in all those areas where there are vulnerable people".

Read the full story at ideal.ed

The British airline has Jet2.com announced its growth plans in our country for the summer season of 2024 during the latest edition of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid during the latest edition of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) held in Madrid and Almeria will be one of the airports that will benefit from the increase in the supply of seats and connections. After consolidating itself throughout 2023 as the fifth busiest company in Almeria and the third in passengers to and from the United Kingdom with more than 26,000 users, Jet2.com has announced that it will add 8,000 more seats in arrivals to the province for next summer. The total number of potential tourists who will be able to arrive at El Alquián airport with Jet2.com will be more than 36,000, 30% more than in the summer of last year.

To read the full story click here . . .

MASKS are once again compulsory in medical centres and hospitals in some regions in Spain, and strongly recommended in others, the ministry of health has announced.

A high incidence of seasonal 'flu has generated much-increased patient traffic in A&E departments and hospital wards and, as seen during the Covid pandemic, wearing masks in enclosed spaces helps reduce transmission.

Click here to read the full story on Think Spain

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be necessary for Brits travelling to 30 selected European countries.

The date for the new £6 ETIAS permit, required for UK citizens to travel to Europe, has been confirmed. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be necessary for Brits travelling to 30 selected European countries, including popular holiday destinations like Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal. However, the start date has been delayed until 2025 due to technical issues.

And this comes as a new EU digital border system that will require fingerprints and facial scans to be taken from British travellers on first use is expected to launch in the autumn 2024, according to reports. The entry/exit system (EES) is earmarked to start on 6 October 2024, according to the i and Times newspapers, citing Getlink, the owner of Eurotunnel.

Read the full story here.

THE one and only ‘Sex Bomb’ singer, Tom Jones, has announced that he is coming to perform in Almeria, Spain in August 2024.

Known as ‘The Welsh Tiger’, Sir Tom is a classic artist who transcends generations and musical trends with his music that is known around the world by all ages. He is now 83 years old but has definitely ‘still got it’ as his latest tour will take him around the world, performing on stages in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, the UK, Germany, Australia, Ireland and of course, here in Spain. He performed in Marbella earlier this year in 2023 and left fans electrified at his captivating show!

Read the full story at the EWN

THE end of the festive season is marred by a strike which will impact thousands of Iberia passengers. Will it affect your travel plans?

On January 5, 6, 7, and 8, a strike by the Iberia handling service (Iberia Airport Service), instigated by the CCOO, UGT, and USO unions, has cast uncertainty over many travellers.

This industrial action is set to cancel 444 flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, and Air Nostrum, throwing a spanner in the works of holidaymakers and those returning from Christmas vacations in Spain.


Read the full story at the EWN

The mayor of Almeria, María del Mar Vázquez, has visited the headquarters of the Red Cross located in the Nicolás Salmerón Park to learn first-hand about the social programs that the humanitarian institution is developing in the city with groups of the elderly, children, families at risk of social exclusion and with basic needs. migrants or the unemployed, among others. In total, according to 2022 data, 33,268 people in the capital benefited from some of the actions carried out by the Red Cross.

Accompanied by the provincial president of the Spanish Red Cross in Almeria, Antonio Alastrúe, the provincial coordinator of the Red Cross, Fran Vicente, and the councillors Eloísa Cabrera and Óscar Bleda, the mayor thanked "all the actions that the humanitarian institution is developing in the city to help so many families in Almeria who are in need of going to them".

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

On December 23, the Almeria City Council approved the new ordinance that will regulate, from this Monday, January 1, 2024, the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) of the capital.

From this Monday, the people of Almeria will find cameras and information panels to access the area classified as low emissions and that not all vehicles will be able to access.

Read the full story at La Voz de Almeria

Travellers could soon enter the UK without having to show their passports in a new trial.

There have been reports of airport chaos over the years with long queues at airport departures and arrivals. But Phil Douglas, director-general of the UK Border Force, said here in the UK, new high-tech gates will use facial recognition technology for people arriving in Britain.

The goal is to create an "intelligent border" that used "much more frictionless facial recognition than we currently do". Government officials hope the new technology will bring the UK's border up to the standard developed elsewhere, like Dubai, which uses facial recognition for 50 nationalities, the Express reports.

To read the full story click here . . .

MOJACAR counted down to its very own Merry Christmas last Friday, December 8, with the official inauguration of the eagerly anticipated Christmas Lighting.

The town’s Plaza Nueva was filled with emotion and magic, full of people waiting expectantly for the largest and most impressive lighting that has illuminated Mojacar to date, thus beginning Christmas in the town.

Read the full story at the EWN

Sir Tom Jones will be returning to the Region of Murcia next year for a concert in July, eight years after he sold out the Plaza de Toros in Murcia city in 2016.

Read the full story at Murcia Today

This Tuesday, summer temperatures have been recorded in several municipalities of the Almanzora Valley region.

There are only ten days left until winter officially begins, but the thermometers mark temperatures more typical of summer. On Tuesday, temperatures exceeded 30 °C in at least two municipalities in Almeria, according to data collected by the network of the Southeastern Meteorological Association (Ametse).

Zurgena set the temperature record this Tuesday in the province with 31.3 °C recorded at 2:15 p.m. at the weather station installed on the roof of the town hall.

According to X @DatosAlmeria's account, this is the maximum temperature recorded in the whole of mainland Spain in the month of December, although it will not go down in the history books as it is not an official station of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

In Arboleas they also exceeded 31 degrees, exactly 31.2 °C at 2:45 p.m.

Regarding the official data from Aemet, Huércal-Overa reached 29.4 °C at 3:50 p.m., which was the eighth maximum temperature recorded yesterday throughout the country (the record of the day was for Malaga city with 29.9 degrees).

This is in addition to the temperatures already recorded on Monday, when three Almeria weather stations entered the "top 10" for heat throughout Spain, according to Aemet. Albox, with 27.9 °C at 3:20 p.m., was the fourth highest temperature in all of Spain. The other two municipalities in Almeria among the ten hottest in the country on Monday were Abla, with a maximum of 27.8 °C at 2:20 p.m., and Rágol, with 27.7 °C at 2:10 p.m., being the fifth and ninth highest temperatures in Spain, respectively.

Translation via Google Translate
Read the full story at Diario de Almeria

Almeria Centre wants the people of Almeria and visitors to breathe the Christmas atmosphere of the city centre, as there is nothing more traditional than walking with the family and shopping in the Open Shopping Centre of Almeria. To encourage visits, Almeria Centre offers discounts for Almeripark to people who buy their gifts for these dates in the participating shops in the centre. Specifically, for each purchase, whatever the price, you will receive a discount voucher of 50 cents at the attractions of this leisure activity held at the Port Authority of Almeria.

This is one of the two initiatives that Almeria Centre develops in the Christmas campaign. The second is a weekly raffle for a €150 Gift Card. To this end, all you have to do is go to the www.almeriacentro.com website and upload a photo of the ticket for a minimum value of 30 euros made by the businesses adhered to Almeria Centre and you will participate in the raffles for a weekly gift card of 150 euros until 6 January 2024 to consume at the Open Shopping Centre of Almeria.

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

This Friday, December 8, there could be rains early in the morning.

The Day of the Immaculate Conception will be marked by wind in much of the province of Almeria. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the warning for wind and coastal phenomena for this Friday in a large part of the province, as well as in Granada.

According to information on the Aemet website, the yellow alert for wind will affect the Almeria areas of the Almanzora Valley, Los Vélez, Nacimiento and Campo de Tabernas from 05:00 to 18:00 hours this Friday, with maximum gusts of 70 kilometers per hour.

Also in Almeria, the western areas and the capital will remain at yellow risk for coastal phenomena from dawn until 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Posterwely winds of 50 to 65 kilometers per hour and waves of two to three meters are expected.

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

This year, the village of Cartes (Cantabria - North Spain) has been awarded gold for having a 65 metres high Christmas tree.

Second Position for the one located in Dortmund (Alemania) with 45 metres high

Third position for Vigo (Galicia) with 44 meters high.

To see photos read the story from N332

Two atmospheric phenomena will leave temperatures typical of winter in the coming days.

Now it seems that winter is coming to the province of Almeria. The December long weekend is just around the corner and over the next few days winter temperatures are expected throughout the country and also in Almeria, where minimums of up to five degrees will be experienced.

The combination of two meteorological phenomena such as the polar jet, the so-called conveyor belt of storms, and an atmospheric river of humidity will bring the purest winter to the Iberian Peninsula, where throughout the festive days and the weekend it is expected that there will be abundant rain and intense snowfall.

This is explained by Samuel Biener, an expert at Meteored, who, in his forecasts for the long weekend of the Constitution and the Immaculate Conception, warns of low temperatures and copious rainfall that will make an appearance in different parts of the country.

Squalls
Although the province will not bear the brunt, if the forecast map of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is taken into account, there are several municipalities in Almeria that will experience minimums of five or six degrees Celsius and maximums that in most cases will be around 15 degrees.

Back to Meteored's forecasts, on Wednesday, Constitution Day, showers are expected to persist in Andalusia, the Strait, Ceuta and Melilla. It will be a day, explains Biener, "of transition", since at the end of the day a new front will arrive from the northwest that will leave locally intense rains in Galicia and areas of the Bay of Biscay.

During Thursday and Friday, rainfall will strengthen in much of the country. Spain will be under the polar jet, the conveyor belt of fronts and storms, and at the same time it will receive an atmospheric river that will connect the peninsula practically with the Caribbean. "Due to the arrival of this subtropical airflow, very humid and temperate, and the cloudiness, the minimum temperatures will rise significantly, as will the maximum temperatures," he explains.

Lows of 5 degrees
Thus, as far as the municipalities of Almeria are concerned, Wednesday will be the most wintry day. Throughout Constitution Day, the lowest minimums will be recorded in municipalities such as Vélez-Rubio, Oria, Serón, Huércal-Overa and Abla, with temperatures between 5 and 7 degrees Celsius. Slightly higher, although not much, will be in the towns of Laujar de Andarax, Gérgal, Tabernas, Albox or Pulpí, with minimums of 9 degrees.

On the other hand, in the western municipalities and in the capital the minimums will be 11 degrees and the maximums, the highest in the province, with 18 degrees in towns such as Adra, Berja, El Ejido, Roquetas de Mar, Almería or Níjar.

On Thursday there will be an increase in temperatures and the lowest minimums will be around 9 and 10 degrees, in towns such as Laujar, Vélez-Rubio, Oria, Abla, Tabernas, Sorbas or Huércal-Overa. The maximums will also experience changes and will be between 20 and 22 degrees in the west, in municipalities such as Adra, El Ejido or the capital,and up to 23 degrees in others such as Sorbas or Huércal-Overa.

On Friday, the day of the Immaculate Conception, there will be hardly any changes compared to the previous day, although temperatures of up to 23 degrees will be recorded, especially in the West and in other towns such as Carboneras. Finally, it should be noted that, according to Aemet, temperatures will drop again over the weekend.

As far as the chances of precipitation are concerned, as stated by the State Meteorological Agency in its forecast map, only Wednesday has a probability of rain, which in no case reaches 50%. The highest probability is 45% and is collected in the villages of Serón and Oria. Between 35% and 40% appear in the municipalities of Laujar de Andarax, Abla, Gérgal, Huércal-Overa and Vélez-Rubio. In the case of the West and the capital, the probability is 25%.

Translation via Google Translate.

Full story at La Voz de Almeria

"We present to you the Christmas Program poster that we at the City Council have prepared with love and enthusiasm, hoping that you will like it.
We wish you MUCH HEALTH, and a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR."

Click here to see the program

Mojácar (Almería)
It will be on the 8th when the lighting will be turned on in one of the most beautiful towns in Andalusia, with a concert of flamenco carols offered by Raya Real. And on December 18, at the Mojácar Playa Shopping Park, there will be children's activities.

Click here to read the full story

Almeria welcomes Christmas from the Plaza de Las Velas with the extraordinary lighting

The people of Almeria witnessed an aerial show based on the immortal work of Peter Pan

As every year, the City Council of Almeria has dedicated painstaking efforts to create the perfect atmosphere that makes Christmas a magical and dreamed period. On an afternoon surrounded by crowds, the Mayor of Almeria, María del Mar Vázquez, inaugurated the dazzling lighting that kicks off a season full of charm, with more than 100 events designed to be enjoyed with the family. The city will be impregnated with the illusion of children in every corner.

The first activity highlighted was an aerial theatre show starring Peter Pan and the magic of Neverland, which reminded us of the importance of not forgetting the child in all of us. In this season, the little ones are the main protagonists, with various activities, including the traditional Children's Theatre Festival in the first days of the new year.

The aerial show was exceptionally original, with a large hydraulic crane that allowed you to enjoy visual theatre suspended in the air, with dance, music, acrobatics and pure fantasy, featuring characters such as Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the evil Hook. Children and adults alike couldn't take their eyes off the sky, captivated by this creative display full of thrills, surprises and acrobatics.

#AlmeríaesNavidad already illuminates the city with more than 1.3 million LED points distributed in 171 arches, 24 lampposts, 86 assorted compositions, 2 facades, 27 figures on the ground, 4 pine trees and 3D structures, as well as more than a hundred decorations on natural trees. These Christmas lights are accessible to everyone thanks to an outstanding innovation: the Music for All Foundation has incorporated Navilens codes into the twelve most outstanding Christmas elements, allowing visually impaired people to listen to an audio description through an APP and learn what the city's Christmas lights look like. Navilens codes are scannable colors using the "Navilens" app, which automatically provides audio descriptions.

In total, 12 codes have been installed throughout the city, located in places such as Puerta Purchena, Reyes Católicos, Plaza Tomatito, Plaza Virgen del Mar, Parque de la Estación, Plaza Pierre de Courbertin, Mercado Central, Plaza de la Estación, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Catedral, Plaza San Sebastián and Plaza Vicario.

The mayor has declared the beginning of Christmas in the city with events so awaited by the people of Almeria, such as the lighting of the extraordinary lighting and the aerial theatre show. He highlighted that this lighting, more inclusive than ever, has for the first time Navilens codes and audio descriptions, allowing visually impaired people to immerse themselves in the Christmas atmosphere. María del Mar Vázquez wished all the people of Almeria an endearing Christmas, urging them to share with family and friends the essential things that unite us in the midst of the circumstances that Spain and the world are experiencing. In addition, he expressed his confidence that these dates will boost the income of businesses and hospitality, closing the year with vitality and enjoying the rich programming coordinated by the Area of Culture, Traditions and Major Festivals.

Translation by Google Translate.

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

Lots of images courtesy of Diario de Almería

Click here to see the images.

It already smells like Christmas... we are waiting for you all on the morning of Friday, December 8 to have a super comfortable time walking through the Christmas Market, to enjoy a little music, delicious homemade tapas and many more surprises.

Translation by Google Translate.

Click here for more information

December Out of Hours Chemist Rota

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The general director of ADIF High Speed, Juan Pablo Villanueva, stressed this Thursday that the works on the AVE line in the province of Almeria are "more than 50 percent" complete, to which he adds in parallel the start of the integration works (burial) in the capital.

During a visit, together with the subdelegate of the Government, José María Martín, to the works being carried out on the Los Feos viaduct, which are part of the Murcia-Almeria high-speed line, Villanueva explained that this is one of the 37 viaducts of the route in the province of Almeria.

Three of the four works currently being carried out are sections between Pulpí and Río Andarax, which comprise 69 kilometres of linear and earthen works.

The Los Feos viaduct, Villanueva explained, is "quite unique" due to its "mixed" structure, given that it has a metal element and another concrete part, which is assembled in modules by thrust by means of a cable system that can move about 1,500 tons of weight.

In addition to the three works along 69 kilometres and which are more than 50% complete, at the same time another work "of a very different type" is starting for the integration of the railway in Almeria capital, an underground that comprises about two kilometres.

Previously, the ADIF director detailed, the Huércal Station is being conditioned to provide all the accessibility rail services to passengers, once the route between that point and the capital is cut.

Asked about the railway situation in Lorca (Murcia), he pointed out that "everything is ongoing", with the expectation that the works can be completed in Almeria within the scheduled timeframe. For his part, the subdelegate of the Government in Almeria, José María Martín, highlighted the "very clear" progress of the work of the high-speed line in this province, and the historic investment of 3,800 million euros that the AVE connection with Murcia entails.

"The Government has committed that, in 2026, we will be connected to Murcia with the high-speed line," stressed Martín, who has advanced that steps are gradually being taken in the capital for railway integration.

In this regard, he has announced that soon, possibly after the December bank holiday, the footbridge of the station will be demolished so that the construction of the provisional bus station can begin.

Translation by Google Translate.

Read the full story at Diario de Almería

Few people are as well known around the world as Walter Elias Disney. For many of us, hearing this name means dreaming of a whole fantasy world that has accompanied us since childhood. Stories and tales of fairies, princesses, pirates and adventures that sound very distant but that perhaps could have their origin much closer than we think.

To read the full story click here . . .