Spain braces for rain and strong winds as Storm Goretti brings ‘weather bomb’

After a cold snap over Christmas, Spain is braced for further bad weather as yet another storm arrives on Thursday.

Spain’s state weather agency, Aemet, has warned that between 8-9th January Storm Goretti will experience “explosive cyclogenesis” and create strong storm conditions across Western Europe that will generate coastal storms in northern Spain and cause strong wind and rain.

Explosive cyclogenesis, also known as a ‘weather bomb’, is a process whereby a storm “deepens” very rapidly, giving rise to weather impacts associated with strong wind, coastal storms and rain in a specific area.

Despite another new storm, experts forecast an increase in temperatures overall in Spain following the cold Christmas period.

Goretti arrives in Spain following the recent Storm Francis which caused snow in large areas of Spain over the Reyes holidays, as well as heavy rain and winds and very low temperatures.

Aemet has issued several warnings for weather phenomena as a result of the storm, with several regions on alert including Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Catalonia, Galicia, the Valencian Community, and the Basque Country.

Most of the agency’s official warnings on Thursday are due to the wind. Westerly winds will prevail on the peninsula and in the Balearic Islands, with very intense wind in Galicia, the Cantabrian coast, and high altitude areas.

Strong winds are also possible along parts of the Mediterranean coast but the worst of the weather is forecast for northern Spain.

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Posting on social media, Aemet notes:

“Forecast for the rest of the week: From today until Saturday: #BorrascaGoretti will affect the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

Stormy seas in the Cantabrian Sea, the Mediterranean and the Galician coast. 

Strong to very strong gusts of wind in the north, the east of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

Rainfall in the far north of the peninsula; on Friday and Saturday, snow at altitudes of 800-1000 m in the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Mountains; in the Pyrenees, accumulations may be significant.

Sunday: rainfall is only expected in Galicia; the effects of #BorrascaGoretti will cease.”

Though Goretti was named by French meteorologists, Spain’s Aemet began naming heavy DANA-like storms in 2025 , it says, to “improve communication with the public and the media” and “promote the preparation and response of administrations to adverse weather events, as well as the preparation of post-event studies.”

Strong winds are forecast across Europe in the coming days.

French weather forecaster Météo France’s Alix Roumagnac told France Info that the winds would be “approaching hurricane speed”, while the UK is also braced.