Waterspout lifts up boats and destroys Christmas decorations in La Cala de Mijas

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Weather agency Aemet believes there was a small tornado, with very strong winds during the early hours of Tuesday morning that destroyed trees and urban furniture

Ignacio Lillo

Málaga

Tuesday, 16 December 2025, 10:16

A waterspout or small tornado caused chaos in the early hours of this morning in the centre of La Cala de Mijas. Very strong winds, which could have reached more than 130 km/h, according to municipal technicians, have lifted small boats from the sand, displaced large huts that were on the beach and have ruined the Christmas decorations put up in the streets.

These are just some of the damage listed by the Mijas town hall, which had all its operatives working on the ground since the early hours of Tuesday morning to restore normality as soon as possible. The list of damage also includes numerous trees uprooted or with large branches broken, and damage to street furniture, among other destruction.

The director of the weather centre in Malaga, Jesús Riesco, reports that Aemet technicians have been sent to investigate what happened on the ground. As for the cause, he points to three possibilities: a waterspout; a small tornado; or even a "downburst", associated with a convective process. For this reason, he prefers to be cautious about the origin of the phenomenon, while awaiting what the specialists say.

"As it has such small dimensions and is so localised, it is impossible to detect it in our systems, because it has been a hyper-localised thing. If it were a tornado, you can immediately see it by the trajectory it has been following," he explains.

"The only thing we know is that it was a convective phenomenon, and now we will have to determine whether it was a waterspout or a small tornado, whether it entered from the sea or whether it came from the land." As for the speed of the wind, Riesco also clarified that until the aforementioned field study is done we cannot know, although the type of damage may give more clues on this question.

Waterspouts are common phenomena in times of strong storms such as the one that hit the province last night. They are also unpredictable. But they can usually be seen travelling along the sea, but it is not usual for them to come ashore, as has happened on this occasion. Although it is true that in Malaga city and Torremolinos there have been relatively recent cases.