MADRID – Some people love it, others are annoyed because the summer clothes they just put away have to be brought out again: it is unusually hot in Spain. Heat records were set in various places along the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday.
In places like Valencia and Murcia, the mercury rose above 30º Celsius. At almost 26 degrees, the highest maximum temperature in November so far was measured in Barcelona. In Las Palmas, it was 33 degrees. Further south, the air was hazy due to the phenomenon of ‘cálima’ (desert dust in the air) and people had to get used to tropical nights again. It became the warmest on Tuesday, November 14, in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol. It was 36 degrees Celsius there.
Unusually hot in November
Last October was already the warmest in Spain’s history since records have been recorded, with temperatures up to 14 degrees higher than usual for the time, reaching highs of 30 degrees in much of the country. The atypical heat coincided with the Veranillo de San Miguel. This is what the beginning of the autumn season around September 29 when temperatures generally rise is popularly called. Then, as the ‘Veranillo de San Martín approaches, the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) predicts that, like last autumn, it will be “the warmest on record (1950).”
During those ‘veranillos’ (short summers) in the autumn period, the weather is anticyclonic in a temperate environment and without precipitation. Temperatures are now expected to remain unusually high in much of Spain until November 16. “These temperatures will be so unusual for this time that they could break the average temperature record for peninsular Spain on those dates every day between November 11 and 15,” Aemet wrote on Twitter.
Esas temperaturas serán tan poco habituales para la época que, durante el período comprendido entre el 11 y 15 de noviembre, todos los días batirían el récord de temperatura media para la España peninsular de esas fechas. Es decir, serían récord de día cálido. pic.twitter.com/EBsl1eEUWU
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) November 12, 2023
Heat prevails
In 2023 there have been few periods with temperatures below average. This was most pronounced at the end of January and the beginning of February. But overall the warm weather has prevailed. Until the end of October, this year was the second warmest year in the series. In that sense, very close to the hottest year in the series: 2022.
Climate change
“What we have observed in Spain in recent years is in line with studies on climate change: an increase in average temperatures translates into a greater number of warm periods, which are also more intense. The cold weather will not disappear, but it will occur less often,” Aemet warns.
So far in 2023 this year, between January and October, the average global temperature is the highest since records began. Temperatures are approaching the planetary safety limit of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels set by the international community in was set as a target in the Paris Climate Agreement.
