Bad weather in Málaga

Updated 26 October 2026. Averages for 2019–2025; 2026 up to 26 October 2026.

Málaga is one of the Spanish cities with the fewest warnings a year. But when it warns, it means it: it has more red days than cities with twice as many warnings.

warning days a year

Spain: 54

orange or red warning days

a year

red days

2019–2025

#161

of 182 zones

1 = most warnings

The Costa del Sol boasts about its weather and the warnings back it up: Málaga's zone is among the least-warned in Spain. The flip side is that its warnings are fewer but sharper. A good share of them are orange or red.

There are two kinds of serious day. In summer, isolated days of heat that reach red. And in autumn, winter and early spring, very intense rain over a few hours, behind the red rain warnings such as those of March 2021 and 2022.

Málaga has 599,063 inhabitants and sits in the Sol y Guadalhorce warning zone (Málaga). Warnings are issued for the whole zone: it shares them with 13 other towns, such as Marbella, Fuengirola and Estepona.

Málaga's warning zone and its neighbours

AEMET doesn't warn by city but by zone: Málaga gets the warnings for the Sol y Guadalhorce zone, outlined on the map. The zones around it have their own thresholds and their own warnings.

Fewer warnings than averageClose to averageMore warnings than average

Average warning days a year, 2019–2025, against the median of Spain's zones (54 days). Tap a zone to go to its page.

Málaga's bad-weather fingerprint

Each axis compares the warning days a year in Málaga's zone with the average of Spain's 182 zones. The dashed circle is the average zone; the edge, three times the average or more.

Fewer than average: cold, snow and fog.

Averages for 2019–2025. It measures how often AEMET issued warnings, not danger or damage.

The year, month by month

YellowOrangeRed

1.9Jan 2.0Feb 4.6Mar 0.9Apr 1.4May 1.1Jun 5.9Jul 5.9Aug 2.7Sep 2.0Oct 2.7Nov 3.7Dec

Warning days in each month, averaged over 2019–2025, by the day's highest level.

Every day since 2019

Each line is one year in Málaga, January to December, and each mark a day with a warning in its zone: you can see at a glance when bad weather bunches up and which years were calmer.

yelloworangered

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec202641202548202438202337202227202136202029201928

The colour is each day's highest level. 2026: up to 26 October 2026. Hover or tap a mark to see the dates.

Which warnings, in which months

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rain	1.4	0.9	4.0	0.6	1.0	0.1		0.1	1.6	1.7	2.3	3.3
Storms	0.4	0.1	0.9	0.4	1.1	0.3			2.1	1.3	1.4	1.0
Wind	0.9	1.1	1.4	0.1				0.1		0.4	0.7	1.0
Heat						0.9	5.9	5.6	0.3

Warning days of each type and month, yearly average 2019–2025. A day with rain and storms counts in both rows.

Month by month, in detail

January

1.9 warning days on average (0.7 orange or red). Mostly: rain and wind.

February

2.0 warning days on average (0.7 orange or red). Mostly: wind and rain.

March

3 red days since 2019

4.6 warning days on average (1.7 orange or red). Mostly: rain and wind.

April

The quietest month

0.9 warning days on average (0.1 orange or red). Mostly: rain and storms.

May

1.4 warning days on average. Mostly: storms and rain.

June

1.1 warning days on average. Mostly: heat and storms.

July

4 red days since 2019

5.9 warning days on average (1.7 orange or red). Mostly: heat.

August

The busiest month2 red days since 2019

5.9 warning days on average (2.3 orange or red). Mostly: heat and rain.

September

1 red day since 2019

2.7 warning days on average (0.4 orange or red). Mostly: storms and rain.

October

1 red day since 2019

2.0 warning days on average (0.7 orange or red). Mostly: rain and storms.

November

2 red days since 2019

2.7 warning days on average (0.9 orange or red). Mostly: rain and storms.

December

2 red days since 2019

3.7 warning days on average (0.9 orange or red). Mostly: rain and storms.

The best month to go (if you'd rather not see warnings)

Counting warning days and how serious they are, the quietest months in Málaga are April and June: 0.9 and 1.1 warning days on average. The busiest is August, with 5.9.

A good time to go without thinking about warnings.

Summers: the heat

Málaga has 13 heat-warning days a year (4.0 of them orange or red). Yellow starts at a forecast high of 36 °C; orange at 39 °C; red at 42 °C.

The heat-warning season usually runs from 27 June to 27 August. The earliest one came on 8 June; the latest, on 8 September.

Red heat days since 2019: 2 August 2020, 12 July 2023, 19 July 2023, 20 July 2023, 2 August 2023 and 12 July 2024.

The city's red heat days are few, isolated and in midsummer: in Málaga a day with no warning can be followed by a red one.

Winters: cold, snow and wind

Winter (December to February) brings 7.6 warning days on average: rain (5.6), storms (1.6) and wind (3.0).

The yellow cold warning starts at lows of −1 °C; red, at −8 °C. Snow, at 2 cm in 24 hours.

Rain and storms

Málaga has 17 rain-warning days and 9.1 storm-warning days a year. The months with the most rain warnings are March, December and November.

Here the yellow rain warning starts at 15 mm in an hour or 40 mm in 12 hours; red, at 60 mm or 120 mm.

Red rain or storm days since 2019: 14 September 2019, 5 March 2021, 6 March 2021, 14 March 2022, 29 October 2024, 13 November 2024, 14 November 2024, 27 December 2025, 28 December 2025 and 4 January 2026.

March is an odd month in Málaga: not many warnings, but quite a few orange and red ones for rain.

Wind, fog and coast

Wind warnings: 5.9 days a year; yellow starts at gusts of 70 km/h.

Year by year

Year	Warning days	Orange	Red	Mostly
2026*	41	9	1	heat and rain
2025	48	9	2	rain and storms
2024	38	9	4	rain and storms
2023	37	7	4	heat and rain
2022	27	7	1	rain and wind
2021	36	9	2	heat and rain
2020	29	11	1	rain and storms
2019	28	4	1	rain and heat

2026, up to 26 October 2026. For the same stretch of the year, the 2019–2025 average is 28 days.

The year with the most warnings was 2025, with 48 days.

The worst days

Every red day since June 2018:

4 January 2026 rain
28 December 2025 rain
27 December 2025 rain
14 November 2024 rain
13 November 2024 rain
29 October 2024 rain
12 July 2024 heat
2 August 2023 heat
20 July 2023 heat
19 July 2023 heat
12 July 2023 heat
14 March 2022 rain
6 March 2021 rain
5 March 2021 rain
2 August 2020 heat
14 September 2019 rain
21 October 2018 rain
20 October 2018 rain
10 October 2018 rain

The longest run of consecutive warning days lasted 12 days, from 14 July 2026 to 25 July 2026.

When a warning is issued in Málaga

	Yellow	Orange	Red
Heat (high)	36 °C	39 °C	42 °C
Cold (low)	−1 °C	−4 °C	−8 °C
Wind (gusts)	70 km/h	90 km/h	130 km/h
Rain in 1 hour	15 mm	30 mm	60 mm
Rain in 12 hours	40 mm	80 mm	120 mm
Snow in 24 hours	2 cm	5 cm	20 cm

Thresholds for the Sol y Guadalhorce zone in AEMET's warning plan. Storms have no numeric threshold: yellow for strong storms, orange for very strong ones. More in what each colour means.

Málaga compared with other cities

City	Warning days a year	Orange or red a year	Red days since 2019	Mostly
Lleida	92	17	9	heat and storms
Zaragoza	89	22	20	heat and storms
Cuenca	85	14	3	heat and storms
Soria	85	9.1	1	storms and rain
Teruel	84	11	4	storms and rain
Albacete	83	14	7	heat and storms
Palma	78	15	1	rain and storms
Huesca	77	12	0	storms and rain
Segovia	74	8.0	0	storms and wind
Córdoba	73	29	15	heat and rain
Ávila	73	7.1	4	rain and wind
Sevilla	69	23	12	heat and rain
Pamplona	68	15	6	storms and rain
Ibiza	67	13	2	rain and wind
Girona	66	10	4	rain and storms
Madrid	65	16	5	heat and storms
Valladolid	65	9.0	0	heat and storms
Burgos	64	6.6	1	storms and rain
Zamora	63	7.1	0	heat and storms
Palencia	59	5.6	0	storms and rain
Jaén	59	25	7	heat and rain
Salamanca	59	6.4	0	heat and storms
Toledo	58	20	5	heat and rain
Logroño	58	14	7	storms and heat
Badajoz	57	19	9	heat and rain
Guadalajara	57	9.9	3	heat and storms
Granada	56	14	5	heat and storms
Almería	55	5.3	0	wind and heat
Dénia	55	12	8	rain and storms
Barcelona	54	9.4	5	rain and storms
Vitoria-Gasteiz	52	10	2	storms and wind
València	51	12	13	rain and storms
Ciudad Real	50	13	0	heat and rain
León	50	3.6	0	storms and rain
Tarragona	49	8.7	2	rain and storms
Murcia	46	13	11	heat and rain
Vigo	46	5.1	0	rain and wind
Castellón de la Plana	45	11	2	rain and storms
San Sebastián	43	5.7	4	rain and storms
Bilbao	41	8.0	9	rain and storms
Alicante	41	7.1	11	rain and heat
A Coruña	41	6.7	2	wind and rain
Cáceres	40	9.7	0	heat and rain
Lugo	39	3.3	0	rain and wind
Ourense	39	6.1	4	heat and rain
Cádiz	39	5.1	2	rain and wind
Huelva	39	9.1	7	heat and rain
Santa Cruz de Tenerife	37	5.7	3	wind and heat
Málaga	35	10	15	rain and heat
Santander	33	3.1	3	rain and wind
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	26	2.9	0	heat and wind
Oviedo	26	3.1	1	rain and storms
Gijón	26	2.0	0	rain and wind
Avilés	22	1.9	0	rain and wind

Averages for 2019–2025. Careful: each zone has its own thresholds, so a warning doesn't mean exactly the same everywhere.

If you live in Málaga or are thinking of moving

With 10 orange or red days a year, serious warnings come a few times a year, nearly always in the same seasons.
Most of the year you won't see warnings: it's among the calmest places in Spain.
The worst heat days come one at a time, in July and August, sometimes on red.
Heavy rain is infrequent but intense: orange or red rain warnings deserve attention, especially in low-lying areas and near streams.

In short

A city that rarely warns and means it when it does. For living, among the calmest on this list; to avoid surprises, get the warnings.

Frequently asked questions

When does it rain most in Málaga?

Going by the warnings, the months with the most rain-warning days are March and December. On average there are 17 rain-warning days a year.

What's the best month to visit Málaga?

If you want to dodge bad-weather warnings, April and June: they have the fewest warning days on average.

Have there been red warnings in Málaga?

Yes: 19 red days since June 2018, the latest on 4 January 2026 (rain).

Does it get very hot in Málaga?

There are 13 heat-warning days a year on average. The yellow warning here starts at a forecast high of 36 °C.

How this was made

Everything comes from the archive of official AEMET warnings that Climaviso has kept since June 2018: each day counts once, at the highest level the zone had. A warning is a forecast, not damage or a measurement, and it's issued for the whole zone, not your street. We don't cover measured temperatures or rainfall: only when, and why, a warning was issued.