Palma Airport delays: Dozens of flights delayed at airports across Balearic Islands as storms batter holiday hotspot

The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has declared all the islands to be on amber alert for rainfall of up to 50 litres per square metre, which could occasionally reach 90 litres per square metre. Storms are set to cause wind gusts of between 90 and 120 kilometres per hour, which could be even more intense in some places.

This afternoon (Wednesday 4 September), heavy rainfall is expected to sweep across the Balearics from west to east. Strong gusts of wind are particularly expected to hit north of Mallorca and the Serra de Tramuntana.

The storms could cause power cuts, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports. The situation is expected to be calmer from 8pm onwards, only slightly affecting Menorca. The storms will cause a drop in maximum temperatures on Thursday (5 September) to below 30C.

Due to the storms, operations at Balearic airports today are hit by delays. Airports authority Aena has reported that there are delays at the airports of Palma, Ibiza and Menorca.

A passenger at Palma Airport posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying that “everything is delayed out of Palma”. A warning has been issued that adverse weather is generating regulations that affect operations at airports in the east of the mainland and the Balearics.

It comes after heavy rain and storms have hit Spain over recent weeks. Much of the Valencia coast and parts of Alicante have saw the heavens open. Alarge tornado passed through Castellón in eastern Spain last month.

Local weather agency MeteoStorms said it believed the tornado was caused by a supercell. Supercells are intense thunderstorms which are characterised by a rotating updraft. They often cause tornados, in addition to hail and powerful winds. José Arenes, the mayor of a town in the region called El Toro told local media the tornado "surprised us all" but that it seemed there was "no major damage" caused.