Think summer is here? Don’t forget your wellies

After a mini heatwave across the country began last week, by Wednesday the temperatures in regions from Madrid northwards had plummeted.

Spain’s state Meteorological Agency AEMET warned that many inland areas could be in danger of flash floods, while along the northern coast angry seas were expected.

The agency issued an amber alert of storms or heavy rain across 19 regions.Many places experienced electrical storms and there were reports of violent hail storms.

AEMET reported that Spain had been hit by around 12,000 lightning rays on Tuesday, setting a record for 2015. A map of the strike locations was tweeted by the agency on Wednesday:

Ayer fue el día del año que más rayos se contabilizaron, casi 12.000. El doble que el máx. anterior, 5.600 del 8/6/15 pic.twitter.com/gCC2e8u9Jf

— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) June 10, 2015

The storms were set to continue into Thursday.

The fact that the stormy weather and cool temperatures hit Spain on the June 10th shows a certain irony in light of the well-used Spanish idiom “hasta el 40 Mayo, no te quites el sayo”.

The saying translates as “Don’t take off your coat until May 40th” – more commonly referred to as June 9th – and indicates the date marking the expectation of the start of summer in Spain.

The AEMET forecast on Wednesday June 10th between 12pm and midnight: