Spain reaches the highest temperatures of the year. For the second time this spring, the thermometers are shooting. The weather station of Almonte (Huelva) reached the highest temperature recorded so far in Spain this year at 3.20pm yesterday, with 39.9ºC. The stations of Morón de la Frontera (39.6ºC), in the province of Seville, and El Granado, with 39.2ºC, in Huelva, have also exceeded 39ºC. On Thursday, this locality already greatly exceeded the 38.7 degrees that there were on April 27 at Córdoba airport (and which marked the new record for the hottest day in April in Spain since the beginning of the historical series of temperatures at that location).
And the forecast indicates that these temperatures can be equaled or even exceeded over the weekend in the Peninsula, where notable contrasts are expected in the weather situation.
There will be, on the one hand, intense heat in the southwest of the peninsula (it can reach 40 degrees) and all this will be combined with tropical nights on the coasts of the Mediterranean and areas of the south and center, and storms in the north with the possibility that they arrive with hail.
“The weekend will be marked by heat, with maximum temperatures that could be between 38 and 40 degrees in the Guadalquivir valley”, explains Rubén del Campo, spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), in statements collected by La Vanguardia.
At the same time, storms are expected in the northern half of the peninsula, which “both Saturday and Sunday could be locally strong and accompanied by hail”, adds Del Campo. The Aemet spokesman explained that this unstable weather in the north, with showers , will continue until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, although “high pressures will probably prevail and temperatures will tend to rise, with an environment that could be very hot in large areas of the country”, he pointed out.
Badajoz, Córdoba and Seville will mark the highest temperatures of the weekend.
Aemet keeps the yellow warnings activated for Saturday – risk for outdoor activities – due to intense heat in five provinces in the south of the peninsula.
Today it is expected to reach 39º C in the Córdoba countryside and in the Guadalquivir valley in Jaén, while the forecast is that it will reach 38 degrees in the gardens of Guadiana (Badajoz), the Sevillian countryside and Sierra Morena . On Saturday, Badajoz, Córdoba and Seville, as well as other towns in the Guadalquivir valley, will approach 38 and 40 degrees. The heat will intensify in the eastern half of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands. And tropical nights arrive in the Mediterranean, that is to say, when the thermometers do not drop below 20 degrees.
The thermometers will mark 34 or 35 degrees in the depression of the Ebro, large areas of the center and south of the Peninsula, and even parts of Mallorca. In these areas the temperatures on Saturday will be between 5 and 10 degrees above what is normal for this time of year. In the opposite direction, atmospheric instability will increase in the north (in the triangle formed by the plain of Alabasa, Teruel and the Pyrenees of Girona), which will translate into more frequent showers and storms in the afternoon and which locally could be strong and be accompanied by hail, especially in mountainous environments and their vicinity.
On Sunday this weather picture will barely change. The morning would be warm again on the edge of the Mediterranean, the southern half and the central peninsular area, and in the afternoon it would exceed 34 degrees in the central depression of the Ebro, wide areas of Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalusia .
Córdoba will reach 38 degrees; Ciudad Real, Toledo and Zaragoza will reach 35 degrees, and Madrid, at 33. “We will continue to talk about heat, maybe not as intense as the previous two days, but without a doubt, a hot environment”, replied Del Campo.
And, on the contrary, the precipitation will appear from the first hour in the Cantabrian communities and there could be sprinkles in the mountains of the eastern interior of the peninsula.
Monday and Tuesday of next week will be days with similar weather, marked again by the possibility of showers and storms in large areas of the northern and eastern half of the Peninsula. The atmosphere will already be more typical of the time of year or even a little cooler than usual in parts of the interior.
“We will continue with tropical nights, in which it will not drop below 20 degrees on the shores of the Mediterranean and in parts of the southern half and central area,” said Del Campo. 30 or 32 degrees will be exceeded in areas of the east, center and south of the Peninsula, and also in the Balearic Islands, where 35 degrees can be reached.
