Parts of eastern Spain are currently experiencing their longest spell of dry weather for over 150 years and the predictions for the future are that the dry weather will continue for a considerable time yet.

The last eight months have seen many areas of Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, as well as Almeria and Malaga in southeast of the country experiencing around 50 percent of the usual rainfall levels, while rainfall has dropped to around 25 percent of average in some areas.

The Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) commented in the newspaper 20 Minutos (20 Minutes) that it is over a century and a half since the region had "seen such a long and intense drought."

AEMET spokesperson Ana Casals warns that although people can talk of "historic drought" in terms of lack of rainfall, it is still too early to consider it a record in terms of duration.

The start of 2014 was met with a series of destructive storms which caused widespread flooding and damage along the north and northwest coast of Spain, but the geographical distribution of the country, which has mountain ranges along its north and center means little or none of that rainfall reached the east and southeast.

The drought is an early indication of the problems which a 2013 study by the Spanish Center for Scientific Investigation (CSIC) warned of. The study looked at rainfall patterns in Spain between 1945 and 2005, and discovered a change in the climate with droughts becoming increasingly common in the center and southeast of Spain over the past 15 years.

These droughts have become longer lasting and increasingly intense, with moderate droughts extending, although extreme droughts have affected a relatively stable area.

Reservoirs in the region are still at between 74 and 90 percent capacity as a result of higher than average rainfall collected in previous years, but unless significant rainfall arrives soon (and some rain is predicted for this week), crops will soon be at risk.

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