A violent and sudden storm hit the Balearic Islands.

On the morning of August 14, a severe weather wave with winds over 50 knots, rain and flooding, hit the Balearic Islands.
Dozens of yachts trapped in the storm, some of which capsized and went to rocks.
There are also injuries. A strong wave of bad weather hit the Balearic Islands, particularly Formentera and Ibiza, on the morning of Wednesday, August 14.
The swell and strong winds caused much fright and several significant damages to numerous boats, including yachts and sailboats, which suddenly at the mercy of the waves, were capsized or ended up on the beach and against the rocks.
And there was no shortage of injuries as well.
The striking images and videos taken by those present are quite dramatic and rightly made the rounds of the web immediately.
Off the island of Formentera, in Cala Saona, nine Italian yachtsmen were injured, two of them seriously, after their yacht ran aground on the rocks.
They were taken to the island’s hospital by firefighters.
One man had a finger amputated, while a woman suffered a serious leg injury.
The other boaters on board suffered minor injuries and bruises.

Even the beautiful “Wally Love” ended up in the rocks.

Near the port of La Savina on Formentera’s west coast, 12 boats broke their moorings due to winds exceeding 53 knots and ran aground.
Among them was the 30.5-meter maxi yacht “Wally Love,” worth about 3,900,000 euros.
The port of La Savina itself was closed due to the strong gusts of wind.
Many superyachts were also in the area and were forced to deal with the swells, trying to limit the damage as much as possible while waiting for the storm to have passed.
On Illetes beach, the storm destroyed the roof of the Molí de Sal restaurant and swept away the toilets next to the mill.
Also in Formentera, searches are still under way for a fisherman who is currently missing.
Also in Ibiza, wind gusts reached 48 knots.
Authorities issued a red alert for northeastern Majorca on Aug. 15, with yellow warnings until the 16th.
In any case, the Balearic government urged all sailors to be cautious in the following days as well.
Since the storm hit, the Balearic Islands have also suffered severe flooding due to heavy rains.
Some flights to Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca have also been canceled.
In addition to the Balearic Islands, the bad weather is also affecting several areas in the eastern part of peninsular Spain, such as Catalonia or Murcia.

A known depression, but arrived early

According to meteorologists, the storm that has hit the Balearic Islands in recent days is due to the so-called “Dana” or “Gota fría.”
This is an isolated depression in the upper levels, typical of these areas of the Mediterranean and Spain, the combined result of the clash between the cold polar air front moving at high altitudes and the warmer, more humid air from the Mediterranean.
The two currents, combining, cause storms even of considerable intensity just between the eastern coasts of Spain and the Balearic Islands.
However, the period turns out to be somewhat anomalous: generally, the “Dana” or “Gota fría” occurs between the beginning of autumn or that of spring, thus close to the equinoxes or in the days following, and no more than a month earlier.
One possible explanation could come from the high surface air temperatures that have not spared even this area of the Mediterranean in recent months and that may have made the current even warmer, causing this weather phenomenon to become even more intense and extreme.

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By now, even in the Mediterranean, storms are coming

In general, the bad weather of the Spanish islands event is part of a context of increasing global weather unpredictability attributed to climate change.
Virulent weather that has also affected the Mediterranean in recent years.
All sailors well remember for example the perfect storm that occurred on the coast of Romagna in 2023 with major damage to ports and sailing clubs or again the hurricane “Derecho” that swept Corsica on August 18, 2022.
The latter was a strong gale, sudden and absolutely not predicted, not even by the professionals of Meteo France that hit the northern part of the island with unprecedented violence doing a lot of damage and causing the beaching of many boats.
Not to mention the storm “Vaia” that brought Rapallo to its knees in October 2018.
With the environment and nature you don’t mess around.
The bill comes sooner or later, and these devastating and sudden weather phenomena are a striking testimony to that.
Everyone, and particularly sea-goers, are warned….