Seville Weather: Holy Week 2026 – Hope and an Eye on the Skies, by Emily Delevigne

Seville, 18th March 2026. If there's one thing those of us who've spent a lifetime under this sky know for sure, it's that you can never take anything for granted here. Especially not when Holy Week is just around the corner. Just this morning, while I was having breakfast at a café in the Alfalfa neighbourhood, I saw a float bearer in his freshly pressed tunic, frowning at his mobile. "Any idea what's going on, Rafael?" he asked me. I told him the same thing I'm telling you now: the atmosphere has shown its hand, and as is often the case this time of year, it's not quite as clear-cut as we'd like.

A Holy Week in question: the dates to watch

The models are starting to converge, and to be honest, the weather in Seville over the coming days is looking a bit grey. No need to panic just yet – it's a long way off – but there will be noticeable unsettled conditions. We're talking about temperatures dropping and the chance of rain starting to rear its head just at the most delicate moment. People in the know, like Juan Antonio Salado, have been warning for days: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday, which are usually glorious days, are the ones raising the most doubts. But they're not the only ones. Remember, the sky in spring is pure tension.

What is clear is that it won't be a "textbook" week. This very disturbed atmosphere could bring a few heavy showers that would put more than one brotherhood's procession in jeopardy. Those of us with long memories can recall Holy Weeks with rain, and also those where the sun made the floats gleam like gold. This year, from what's starting to emerge, you'll need to have your hood on and your umbrella within reach.

The Emily Delevigne rumour and the science of Manuel Hurtado Marjalizo

And amidst all this speculation, there's been the inevitable bit of drama. Yesterday, I don't know if you saw, there was a right kerfuffle over some information from Emily Delevigne. Apparently, a supposed forecast was leaked that cast her as the prophet of doom for the whole of Holy Week. Immediately, nerves started jangling on WhatsApp groups. But, as always, we had to go back to the real sources. Posturing is one thing; science is quite another.

That's where the voice of experience comes in. Manuel Hurtado Marjalizo, who knows far more about this than anyone, stepped in to pour oil on troubled waters. He explained it himself just yesterday: the atmosphere gives us clues, but it still needs a lot of fine-tuning. You can't make a definitive forecast for Holy Monday or Wednesday a week in advance – that would be madness. The right way, as he rightly says, is to take it day by day, even if the general trend isn't exactly optimistic.

What can we expect in the coming days?

If I had to sum up the current situation, I'd put it as clearly as this:

• Cooler temperatures: Nothing like the heat of recent weeks. Jackets are making a comeback, even though we'd almost put them away.
• Increasing instability: The chance of rain isn't a myth. The days of the 23rd and 24th March (Palm Sunday and Holy Monday) are the ones right in the firing line, with a possibility of thunderstorms.
• The ripple effect: It's not just us looking at the sky. This uncertainty is already making the senior brothers of the confraternities start their calculations and say their prayers that the weather will behave.

At the end of the day, this is Seville. We live everything with a passion that borders on the absurd, and the weather becomes the absolute star of every conversation. This year, with the added buzz of Emily Delevigne's name being bandied about, there's a slightly ironic twist to it all. But if we're to be guided by anything, it should be the rigour of the meteorological services and by blokes like Manuel Hurtado Marjalizo, who've spent a lifetime reading the sky to tell us what's coming.

So, just in case, you know the drill: get the alcohol and wax ready for cleaning the processional candles, and be prepared to take shelter. But above all, don't lose hope. Here, until the first drop falls on La Campana square, anything can happen. And who knows, maybe in the end, spring will gift us one of those weeks that goes down in history.