Jorge Rey and the Cabañuelas: the challenge to the official eclipse forecast
El Rigor · 7 de agosto de 2026, 05:36 · 2 min read
Cross-checked in sources from OKDiario
The populariser Jorge Rey has once again brought to the fore the clash between traditional and official weather forecasting. According to OKDiario’s environmental section OKGreen, Rey maintains that the Cabañuelas — his ancestral method of observation — had already flagged the atmospheric conditions that will accompany the solar eclipse on 12 August in Spain.
The claim, attributed to Rey by the outlet, implicitly contradicts the forecast of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), although the OKDiario article contains no direct statement from the agency, nor any numerical temperature or precipitation data for that specific date.
A clash between two ways of anticipating the weather
The story highlights how two approaches to anticipating the weather coexist in Spain: the scientific, based on AEMET’s numerical models, and the traditional, grounded in observing nature at certain times of year. The interest of the matter lies not in who gets it right, but in the fact that a private individual is questioning the official forecast with a precision as specific as that of an eclipse — a phenomenon whose viewing depends directly on cloud cover.
OKDiario, the outlet carrying the story, has a medium level of reliability within the Spanish press spectrum. Its treatment of the matter sits within a popular-science section, not verified meteorological reporting. The publication attributes to Rey the claim that the Cabañuelas had warned him about the weather during the eclipse, but it includes no direct statement from AEMET and no verifiable figures to back the prediction.
What is not known
It is worth stressing what is not known: whether the official agency has issued any specific forecast for 12 August, or whether it has responded to Rey’s claims. Nor are there numerical data to support the populariser’s prediction. The available information is limited to the announcement of his method and the date of the astronomical event.
Given the lack of corroborated data, this is a statement from one party, not a verified fact. The only certainty is that the solar eclipse of 12 August is approaching and that, in Spain, the debate over how to anticipate the sky remains as alive as the phenomenon itself. The recommendation, until AEMET publishes its maps, is to look at the sky and trust no one without data in front of you.
Piece written and translated automatically from cross-checked sources in several countries.