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The last few days have brought a dramatic change to the weather in Alicante province, which was treated to a deluge of rain on Thursday May 18 that threatens to continue well into next week. But like so many meteorological events, signs of this thunderstorm were captured even before the first drops fell.

 

The stunning image of what’s known as a 'solar halo' was captured by an Orihuela beachgoer just hours before the downpour that saturated Alicante and surrounding areas and shared on social media by Mete Orihuela.

 

This dramatic optical effect forms a circle of light around the sun or moon, resulting in an iridescent disk that looks like a halo and most often precedes wet weather. The reason is that it occurs when sunlight passes through tiny ice crystals suspended high in the Earth's atmosphere; the presence of these crystals encourages sunlight to scatter and gives rise to the formation of a halo of colours around the sun, just like a rainbow.

 

And it seems that the omen sighted in the Vega Baja skies was spot on, since the DANA which formed mid-week in North Africa has begun to move over Alicante province and left plenty of much-needed rain in its wake. Over the weekend, the region is on high-alert for flooding and a yellow weather warning has been issued for storms in the Marina Alta, Marina Baixa and El Comtat on Friday May 19.

 

 

Image: Alan Dunn via Mete Orihuela