Marbella weather

Have you noticed the major floods simultaneously occurring around the world this month?
- Australia has an area almost as large as France and Germany combined, completely under water. Hard to comprehend the magnitude of this disaster.
- Several hundred people have been killed in Brazil during a deluge that caused major landslides.
- In Sri Lanka, a million people are affected by floods in the central, north and eastern provinces.
- Four persons drowned and a thousand were affected in Germany when the levels of major rivers rose.

These are exceptional events. Everywhere else the weather is normal, winter-cold in the Northern hemisphere with its usual snow storms, like in Boston where the Mayor just lifted a city snow emergency Thursday, one day after blizzard conditions pounded the city and created hazardous travel conditions across New England….

During that time, it is sunny and 18C in Marbella. The weather forecast predicts the same pattern for the next 10 days…

We feel so privileged to enjoy such a weather while the skies are castigating so many people. Naturally, we also complain about the climate: some find it too hot in summer, others are still reminiscing about last winter when it rained almost constantly for three months, my children vent against a two-degree drop in temperature when we go cycling to school…

The world is the same everywhere: people focus on their own problems and have a hard time empathizing with events occurring far away. And yes, the weather remains Marbella´s principal asset.

Partial solar eclipse

A partial solar eclipse will take place in the morning of Januray 4th. It is expected between 8:40 and 9:00 am. The sky over Marbella should be clear, so protect your eyes and enjoy the show!

Two years of water for Marbella

On World Water Day, the Sur reported on the water reservoirs of the Malaga province. In total, they hold 94% of their capacity. This is the highest level registered since 1998 and it guarantees enough water for the next two years in the province.

The Costa del Sol is well covered, as the Concepcion reservoir is now at full capacity with 62 cubic hectometers. The only negative note is that, due to the limited capacity of that reservoir, 60 cubic hectometers (almost as much as is retained) were released to the sea. Hopefully, we won’t miss that water in the next few years…

Flood in el Cortijo Blanco

Pictures taken in el Cortijo Blanco, Marbella – San Pedro, the morning after one of the strongest downpours on record:

Flooded house in el Cortijo Blanco

Freeing a bridge over the Guadaiza river

Cortijo Blanco building after the storm

Where are the best solar products?

Marbella’s claim to fame is its weather: 300+ days of bright sun are pretty much guaranteed every year. The sun is the Costa del Sol’s main asset: a magnet for tourists, a sales argument for real estate agents, and potentially a cheap source of energy for one of the poorest regions of Spain.

But somehow, solar technology is rarely used across Andalucia. Why is that?

Besides hot water solar installations, now compulsory on any new construction, you would be hard pressed to find any solar product around: almost no one uses solar lights for their garden, or a solar pool heater, or a solar battery charger, and forget about educational solar toys for kids… How come?

Are solar products not good enough? Are they too expensive to install? Are they too technical? Not yet adapted to simple consumer usage? Why aren’t there any ‘green’ stores? Is Spain behind compared to other countries? Is it just a reflection of fossil fuel monopoly as an energy source?

I have been pondering these questions for the past year. I have changed the hot water solar panels in our home, installed a new solar system to warm up the house in winter, looked at the possibility to go off the grid…

I don’t have all the answers, but one thing is certain. Solar technology is not used because the supply is very limited in this region. It is difficult to find good solar professionals. Most contractors are former plumbers re-converted into simple solar installations, their range of products is limited and their ability to properly size an installation approximate.

It is impossible to find any solar consumer products around. No specialized stores, no section in the large department stores, no internet stores…

So why is there such a limited supply of solar products? Is it because the technology is not good enough or because it has not arrived to Spain yet? Is it because the solar industry is too ‘technical’ and not communicating with customers in a simpler way? After all, who wants to study engineering to recharge a cell phone. Solar technology should be as simple as using electricity…

We have created solartwitter.com to bring some answers to these questions. Solar Twitter looks at solar power as a way to save money while taking positive steps for the environment. The site is focused on the best home solar products. Its aim is to identify and review them in plain, non-technical language accessible to all readers.

If you have used any solar product (panels, heaters, lights, toys, chargers..), please send us your comments and reviews. We will analyze and share them with the rest of our readers, and hopefully, in a near future, Marbella and its residents will be able to take full advantage of its main asset, the sun.

Marbella and Costa del Sol weather

One of the best assets of Marbella and the Costa del Sol is the weather. The sun shines most days of the year, the temperatures are mild in winter and bearable in summer. It rains rarely…

…but when it rains, it pours! December 2009 was the wettest month in 60 years and most of the rain fell in one week! It was torrential and the rain tested the quality of more than one roof (water infiltrated some of our tiles…).

I always feel bad for the people who happen to come to Marbella during one of those weeks when it pours. It rarely happens but it is no consolation for the tourists stuck in their hotel rooms…

If you want to check the weather before coming, there are many websites providing weather forecast and temperatures for Marbella and the Costa del Sol. One that I find easy to use is eltiempo.es (in Spanish). Another resource is the Marbella weather page.

Hopefully you won´t have to worry about this and visit during a normal Marbella week: sun, blue sky, warm temperatures.