A total of 24 meteorological stations of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) exceeded the maximum temperature record for the month of April last Thursday. The new records easily exceed previous records, even by more than four degrees. All this is the result of the influence of a “very hot, dry and African origin” air mass that has swept across large areas of the southern half, although temperatures are expected to drop “notably, and generally tomorrow” today. , with eight degrees less than these days.
In the end, Aemet’s forecasts were fulfilled to the millimeter, with which the threshold of 40ºC was not reached by very little. The highest temperature records in April were set at the Córdoba airport, where 38.8ºC was registered, a figure that exceeds the maximum reached so far by 4.8ºC (on April 18, 2017), followed by Morón de la Border, with 37.4ºC (the previous record was 34.7ºC in 1997) and Seville airport, with 36.9ºC (35.4ºC in 1997).
The absolute record for April in Spain is still the 40.2°C reached in 2013 in Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands.
Other very notable records were those of Granada, with 36.9ºC (32.7ºC in 2017), Badajoz airport, with 36.1ºC (33.2ºC in 1997) and Jérez de la Frontera, with 35.2ºC ( 33.6ºC).
The observatory of the Retiro Park in Madrid marked 30.7ºC, the highest temperature ever recorded since the historical series of that station began in 1920. Yesterday, the thermometers marked 36 degrees or more in the southern half of the peninsula, while the temperatures they were somewhat cooler in the northern half.
Meanwhile, today it is expected that there will be a general and notable drop in temperatures, estimated at “about eight degrees less in practically the entire Peninsula”, according to the Aemet spokesman, Cayetano Torres. During these next two days, the temperatures will drop clearly, but they will still be above normal, except in the north of the peninsula, where they will be close to average.
However, this Saturday, in some areas it will exceed 35 degrees, also in towns near the Mediterranean coast in the southern half. It will be the hottest day of a month of April in the Valencian Community since there are records. Tomorrow this episode of extraordinarily high and record temperatures for April will come to an end. In this sense, some instability is expected in the northwest of the peninsula with showers and storms in the northeast of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
The first four days of next week, from May 1 to 4, will be dry and sunny. Rainfall is only expected on Monday in the extreme northeast and the Balearic Islands, and on Wednesday and Thursday in Galicia and the west of the Cantabrian area.
“The drought situation will continue for the next few days and it is also expected for the next few months, waiting for an autumn that the models predict as rainy,” according to Cayetano Torres. “Let’s hope that these predictions come true and the drought is over, since it is highly probable that (that end) will be after the summer,” said Torres.
In the current hydrological year, which began on October 1 (and will end on September 30), the average national value of accumulated rainfall up to April 25 is estimated at 344 liters per m2, that is, 24 % less than normal.
And April is on track to be the driest since the national historical rainfall series began in 1961.
The Government decided for the first time in history to advance the start of the state campaign against forest fires by a month and a half in response to the Aemet alert that Spain will have unusually high temperatures in the coming weeks. The decision was made in the State Committee for Coordination and Management (Cecod) of the State Plan for Forest Fires, which was set up this Friday at the Civil Protection headquarters. In previous years, the Cecod of the State Forest Fire Plan was constituted in mid-June.
