An area of low pressure and some very unsettled weather is still plaguing the Iberian Peninsula. It's not only Spain and Portugal affected by this but also southern France and, to the south, parts of Algeria.

On Monday the town of Biskra in northern Algeria recorded 56mm (2.25 inches) of rain in just 24 hours. This is nearly three times the average for the entire month of March which stands at just 19mm.

The Spanish Costas have not escaped either. The Costa del Sol has not been living up to its name, with Malaga seeing 46 mm (nearly two inches) of rain falling in the space of just 12 hours. But this brings the total there since Friday to a whopping 244mm (9.6 inches). Bear in mind the March average in Malaga is a mere 49mm (2 inches).

Some villages along the Costa del Sol have suffered badly over the past few days. The torrential rains have caused roads to be flooded so deeply that cars were washed away and with much mud and debris left behind. Some campsites have been devastated.

Other notable places to get a soaking were Palma, Majorca and Barcelona where around 37mm (1.5 inches) was close to a month's worth of rain in less than one day.

Tuesday morning's satellite picture still shows cloud covering nearly the whole of Spain and Portugal. It also extends across southern France to much of Italy, and across the Adriatic to southern Greece. This is also where the weather system bringing all the rain is heading towards.

Meanwhile in China it is dry weather giving the problems. One of the worst dust storms for years swept into Beijing on Monday. The choking dust brought the visibility in some areas down to as low as 10 metres (33 feet).

Weather News from the last five days:
29/03/2004
28/03/2004
27/03/2004
26/03/2004
25/03/2004

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