MADRID – While residents in many parts of Spain are still cleaning up the mud from the recent floods and recovering from unusually large hailstones, a period of intense heat is just around the corner.
Starting from Wednesday, temperatures will rise and this upward trend will continue until the weekend. The depression caused by the DANA phenomenon brought milder temperatures and instability at the beginning of this week. However, from Wednesday onwards, the mercury will steadily climb says Eltiempo.es.
Also read: June brings hailstones the size of ping-pong balls to the Valencia region
After the DANA system moves eastward, a high-pressure area will settle over Spain, bringing stable, dry, and warm weather.
Meteorologists expect the temperatures to continue rising until Saturday, June 17. On this day, maximum temperatures will reach their peak, reaching around 40ºC in the southwest of the country. However, Sunday will see a drop in temperatures as the high-pressure area moves eastward.
Temporary drop in temperatures
Between Sunday and Tuesday of next week, temperatures may decrease, but this drop will be temporary due to a trough that will also bring instability. Although uncertainty increases as we look further ahead, trends suggest that the high-pressure area will return to Spain, causing temperatures to rise again.
Hottest areas in Spain
As mentioned, the hottest areas will be in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, where the highest maximum temperatures will be reached, particularly in the inland regions of Andalucia, where temperatures of up to 39°C are forecast for Córdoba on Saturday. In other parts of the southwest, such as Extremadura, western Castilla-La Mancha, and the Ebro Valley, temperatures could also reach or exceed 35°C.
Warmth in the north as well
In many other inland areas, temperatures will easily exceed 30°C, including parts of the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands. Regions in the northwest of the peninsula and the Canary Islands will remain below 30°C, with temperatures around 22°C in A Coruña and 24°C in Santander.
Tropical nights, difficulty sleeping in many places
Not only will we experience heat during the day, but the minimum temperatures will also rise day after day. In the early morning of Wednesday, the minimum temperature did not drop below 22.6°C in Barcelona and 22.1°C in Málaga. Between Friday and Sunday, minimum temperatures may not drop below 20°C in many areas, resulting in tropical nights.
The majority of Andalucia, the south of Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Mediterranean regions on the peninsula, both archipelagos and locally on the Cantabrian coast may not drop below 20°C throughout the weekend. The expected minimum temperature in Seville on Saturday is expected to be 22°C.
Warm, but not a heatwave
Although temperatures are expected to reach nearly 40°C in some parts of the country, it will not be considered a heatwave. To classify as a heatwave, certain criteria regarding intensity, extent, and duration must be met, and these are far from the temperatures experienced this week.
