Azores High Pressure System Drives Drought in Morocco and Southern Europe

This is what Lhoussaine Youabd, in charge of the communication service at the National Meteorology Directorate (DMN), declared on Friday to the MAP, specifying that "the weather situation has been characterized during this winter period by the presence of the Azores high, an area of high atmospheric pressure located in the North Atlantic Ocean and which extends over southern Europe, the western Mediterranean basin and Morocco."

This phenomenon has caused the majority of disturbances to be directed towards Northern Europe, which has resulted in the absence of disturbances over the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean (except Egypt) and the Iberian Peninsula, with consequently a rainfall deficit over this entire region exceeding 50% over the period between September 2021 and January 2022, he explained.

Consequently, the amounts of rain recorded during the autumn and winter seasons are so far lower than the annual average of the last few decades.