Catalonia has closed the summer with twice as many torrid nights as those recorded in 2022 in the Meteocat network of automatic stations, according to an ACN analysis. If last year 98 nights were recorded in which the temperature did not drop below 25 degrees throughout the country, between June 21 and September 21 of this year 206 have been recorded.
2022 already marked the highest figure since, at least, 1998, so this summer the record has been pulverized. During the same period, an unprecedented number of tropical nights have also been observed, about 5,000 in the almost 200 Meteocat stations. In the municipalities of Barcelonès, Terres de l’Ebre, Costa Daurada or Portbou, more than 60 have been experienced between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.
A total of 109 of the 184 stations with available data recorded more nights above 20 degrees than ever before. Among the records, Tarragona city stands out, where tropical nights have been experienced on 76 of the 92 days between June 21 and September 20, Amposta (74), Alcanar (71) and L’Aldea (70). These coastal towns are followed by Aldover (65), Cabrils and Vilanova y la Geltrú (64), Cunit and L’Ametlla de Mar (60).
In the center of the city of Barcelona, ??at the Raval station, on 85 of the 92 days of summer it has never dropped below 20 degrees, the highest figure in Catalonia, but which is not a record for this town: in 2018 89 tropical nights were experienced in the same period. The same circumstance of high values ??but no records occurs in Buda Island (80), Badalona (77), Alfacs (74), Torredembarra (68), Portbou (63) and El Perelló (61).
The phenomenon of thermometers not falling below 20 degrees even at night, traditionally more typical of coastal areas, has also been experienced in the interior, as has never been recorded before in the Meteocat (XEMA) network of automatic weather stations. .
According to the ACN balance from the end of summer until September 20 and which goes back to the last 25 years, large regional capitals such as Granollers (55 of the 92 summer days have been tropical nights), Terrassa (41), Vilafranca del Penedès (31), Sabadell (29), Lérida (25) and Girona (14) have experienced records. In the capital of Gironès, for example, it had never exceeded 8 in a year.
In other locations, until now there had only been a maximum of one tropical night each summer, a mark that has broken down this year, as has happened in several municipalities in Central Catalonia and the Pre-Pyrenees – this is the case of Vic (7), Olot (4), Molló (3), Montesquiu (3), la Seu d’Urgell (2) or Solsona (2).
Altogether, the XEMA has registered 4,870, almost a thousand more than last year (3,967), the highest number so far. This year’s number doubles or triples most summers in the last quarter century.
On the other hand, Meteocat’s own network of stations has also observed more torrid nights than ever between June 21 and September 20. Although the record was already broken last year with 98 in the set of observatories, during the summer of 2023 this mark has doubled to 206.
However, there are only 31 stations that have suffered night temperatures equal to or greater than 25 degrees more days than ever. For example, it has happened in Badalona (14 times), Alfacs (13), Tarragona (12), Vinebre (9) or Benissanet (6).
In the city of Barcelona, ??one out of every three summer nights (31) has been torrid, the highest figure in Catalonia by far, as is practically the case every year. However, in the country’s capital there were more people last summer, with 38.
This phenomenon is also eminently coastal, but between June and September more have been recorded than ever in some cities further away from the sea, such as Granollers (4), Terrassa (3) or Banyoles (1). In addition, torrid nights have been recorded for the first time in the 21st century in towns such as Alguaire (3), Font-Rubí (3), Amposta (2), Montmell (2) or the Hostalets de Pierola (2).
As for red-hot nights, those in which the thermometers have not dropped below 30 degrees, one was recorded in Portbou, at dawn on August 21 (30.3 degrees), as explained by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia in network The only two occasions in which an entire day has not had a temperature below 30 degrees at any time in the 21st century were also observed in the same Empordà town in 2003 (30.7 degrees on August 12) and 2018 (31 degrees on August 4).
