BRITISH holidaymakers were basking in a Costa winter heatwave as Storm Larisa sparked chaos in the UK.
Bare-chested tourists downed pints of lager in Benidorm under sun and blue skies as others packed the beaches with temperatures reaching a glorious 23C.
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More of the same is due on Saturday when it will be even hotter still with thermometers set to reach 26C at the popular Costa Blanca resort.
Spain’s mini-winter heatwave also blessed the Costa del Sol, with top temperatures around the same dizzy heights as Brits back at home struggled with gales, blizzards and snow.
Drivers have been stranded in their cars for nine hours on the M62 as Storm Larisa batters Britain with blizzards.
Brits have seen road delays, railway cancellations and school shutdowns – and now football fans could see Premier League games postponed.
Ricky Davis, 35, who stripped off his T-shirt to enjoy a lager at a pub in Benidorm’s Little England area said: “I’ve got here yesterday and I can’t believe it.
“I come from Manchester and have just got off the phone to a mate who says it’s freezing back there.
“He was supposed to join me but a last-minute work thing got in the way. He’s really gutted.”
Londoner Sheila Cummings, sunning herself on Benidorm’s famous Levante beach with a couple of friends, added: “I only packed my bikini at the last minute when I saw there was going to be a mini-heatwave.
“I was still half-expecting the weathermen to have got it wrong but it’s better than I thought it was going to be.
“I never thought I’d have to be putting on factor 15 sunscreen in Benidorm in winter. I’ll be needing an ice cream in a bit.”
Spanish weather agency Aemet is predicting temperatures this weekend will be up to 15C than normal, especially on the Mediterranean coast.
In cities like Murcia in south-east Spain experts reckon they could surpass 30C.
Valencia is another place where Saturday’s top temperature could reach 30C the first time ever in the first half of March since records began in 1869.
The temperatures are more akin to those Spain normally experiences at the end of May and beginning of June.
The unseasonal weather comes less than a fortnight after heavy snow brought chaos to Majorca.
Around 20 inches of snow shut roads and cut power in dozens of towns on the holiday island at the start of last week.
Temperatures on the Costas are due to drop again after the weekend, to around 16C in Benidorm by Wednesday and the same in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
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