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Local Spain
7 days ago
- Climate
- Local Spain
Spain warns next days could be hottest for late May since 1950
A "mass of very warm air from north Africa" will bring heat usually seen in July, said AEMET spokesman Rubén del Campo. Maximum temperatures in some areas will reach "more than 10 degrees above normal for the time of year, especially in parts of the north, east and south", he added. The southern Andalusia region will swelter under peak temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and a new all-time heat record for May "cannot be ruled out", said Del Campo. AEMET wrote on X that "the days from May 29th to June 1st could be the hottest for those specific dates since 1950 at least." Scientists say climate change driven by human activity is increasing the length, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves. The last three years have been the hottest on record in Spain, which is emerging from a years-long drought.
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Spain braces for late May heatwave with 40C forecast in south of country
Spain is bracing for another sweltering end to May, with the mercury in southern parts of the country set to hit 40C as high-pressure areas and a mass of hot, dry air bring temperatures more than 10C above the seasonal norm. The high temperatures come almost exactly three years after some areas of Spain experienced their hottest May since records began and the temperature at Seville airport reached 41C. 'The last week of May will see a high-temperature episode across a good part of the peninsula, with the kind of temperatures normally seen in high summer, especially from Wednesday,' said Rubén del Campo, a spokesperson for Spain's meteorological office, Aemet. 'In some southern parts of the peninsula, we could see maximum temperatures of more than 40C, and the temperature won't drop below 20C in that region or in Mediterranean areas. "We're talking about maximum temperatures that are between five and 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. In some areas, the temperatures will be more than 10 degrees above normal on Thursday.' Del Campo said the high temperatures were down to the presence of high-pressure areas over the peninsula — 'which guarantee stable weather with few clouds and a lot of sun' — and the arrival of a mass of dry, warm air over the peninsula from North Africa. He added that the most affected areas would be south-east Spain, its central region, and the Ebro Valley in the north-east of the country. Outlook Temperatures on the two hottest days this week — probably Thursday and Friday — are forecast to reach 35C in central and northern areas and 40C along the Guadalquivir River in Andalucía. The hot spell is forecast to last until at least Saturday, when atmospheric instability could bring clouds, dust clouds, and a lowering of temperatures. Spain recorded its highest ever temperature in August 2021, when the mercury in the Andalucían town of Montoro, near Córdoba, reached 47.4C. A 2022 Aemet study found that the arrival of 30C temperatures across Spain and the Balearic islands had come an average of 20 to 40 days earlier over the past 71 years. 'The summer is eating up the spring,' Del Campo told El País at the time. 'What's happening fits perfectly with a situation where you have a warmer planet,' he said, adding that the rise in temperatures was a 'direct and palpable [consequence] of climate change … The climate in Spain isn't the one we used to know. It's got more extreme.' The Guardian Read More Investigation into disappearance of Fiona Pender upgraded to murder
Local Spain
12-05-2025
- Climate
- Local Spain
Why is it so rainy in Spain this year?
Those living in Spain will have noticed that the past year has been very rainy, not to mention lots of storms and the devastating floods in Valencia in October. Valencia may have been one of the most widely reported floods in Spain over the last year, but there were also floods in Málaga, Madrid, Murcia and other places in Andalusia. And the wet weather has continued into 2025 as well. Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for Spain's Aemet national weather agency, reported how the first four months of the 2025 - between January and April - were the eighth wettest on record since 1961, and the fifth wettest so far this century. March stood out as a particularly wet month, with lots of storms meaning almost uninterrupted rain across much of the country for several weeks. It was actually the third rainiest March in the last 60 years. "During that month, there were places where it rained three or even five times more than usual," Del Campo explained. April also had plenty of rain and May is also proving to be a wet month as well. To those who are new to the country- no, this isn't what Spain is usually like. In fact, in recent years we've become more accustomed to early heatwaves than incessant downpours. So what's going on? According to meteorological experts from weather website El there are some explanations as to why there's been so much rain. This year there has been an increase in the presence of anticyclonic blocks in northern Europe. 'These prevent the normal passage of low-pressure areas north of the continent, which have been diverted southward, toward the Iberian Peninsula and the western Mediterranean'. Jet streams which guide storms have also become more unpredictable, meandering along different paths than usual, they add. Some weather experts also believe it could be down La Niña - the meteorological phenomenon originating in the waters of the equatorial Pacific. This itself can cause more rainfall during the autumn and winter seasons. Many people have attributed the rain to the fact that they feel this year has been much colder than normal. According to the experts though, it just seems colder because the last few years have been abnormally warm a lot earlier, and the fact that there's been so much rain. In fact, the first four months of 2025 were the eighth warmest since 1961. "Perhaps the problem is that we've had such extreme years that anything other than temperatures reaching 30C in January seems abnormal," Aemet's Rubén del Campo argued. So what's to come for the remainder of May? When will this wet weather come to an end in Spain? According to AEMET, this week we will continue to experience unstable atmospheric conditions, "fuelled by the presence of cold air in the upper layers of the atmosphere". This could indicate storms in much of the peninsula, but more likely in the northwest and central parts of the country. For the early part of the summer, meteorologists are predicting above-normal temperatures in Spain between May and July, particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the country, where there is a 50 to 70 percent chance that these months will be warmer than usual. As for whether the rain will continue into the second half of May and the summer, it's too early to say for certain but it looks like conditions will become more stable. As a final note, it's worth remembering that all this rain is coming off the back of several years of severe drought, particularly in southern Spain and Catalonia. Much of Spain was in a long-term drought since the end of 2022 and the northeastern region experienced one of the worst situations in over 200 years. In fact, in places like Barcelona, water restrictions have only just been lifted and the fountains switched back on this month. So, while some places definitely didn't need so much rainfall, others certainly did.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Expert makes stunning discovery at reservoirs following nation's worst drought in recorded history: 'Conducive to flash floods'
A stormy March provided good news for one European country that had been suffering its worst drought in recorded history. Four named storms swept through the Iberian Peninsula, Bloomberg reported, tripling the usual rainfall for the first three weeks of the month, per the State Meteorological Agency, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, or AEMET. Seville, Córdoba, and Madrid, among other cities, received 10 times as much rain as they normally do. In Andalusia, the southern part of Spain, three people were killed by flooding, providing a reminder of the deadly and devastating October downpour that killed more than 200 people in Valencia. AEMET meteorologist Rubén del Campo said the drought was likely over, but the country still didn't have an excess of water. Still, water reserves reached 66% of capacity, which was greater than the last 10 years' average, according to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, per Bloomberg. Rising global temperatures are causing extreme weather to happen more frequently and with greater intensity. This includes droughts and floods as well as heat waves. In Spain and the Mediterranean, the changing climate will lead to warmer and drier conditions, Bloomberg noted. "That kind of cycle is conducive to flash floods as hardened, scorched soil fails to absorb sudden downpours," the outlet stated. The drought had led to water restrictions for millions of Spaniards over the last few years, and those in Barcelona and elsewhere were still under orders to cut back on the vital resource. Fountains have been turned off, and gardens can only be watered on certain days and at certain times. This is the result of humans burning dirty energy sources for fuel, which releases heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. We can all help turn things around by using solar panels to produce clean energy, for example, or installing electric heat pumps. In the meantime, as the Spanish government is doing, municipalities can look to improve coordination and communication among emergency services and other agencies that can save lives when extreme weather does hit. Should the government be allowed to restrict how much water we use? Definitely Only during major droughts No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Nahar Net
26-03-2025
- Climate
- Nahar Net
A parched Spain has emerged from drought only to face floods
by Naharnet Newsdesk 26 March 2025, 14:36 As Spain choked on stubborn drought last year, a reservoir north of Barcelona emptied, revealing a medieval church. But in the last few weeks, rising waters have again covered the Sant Roma de Sau church as the country's weather took an abrupt turn. Drought relief came at a price, as flash floods forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes, closed schools and highways and swept cars away. While it can be difficult to identify climate change as the cause of a single event, scientists say it is making such swings between dryness and downpour ever more extreme. The recent floods took place just months after a deadly deluge in Valencia. Here's a look at the volatile weather that led Spain out of a drought. How unusual were the recent storms? In the first 18 days of March, Spain received more than double the rainfall it normally gets in the month, according to Spain's national weather agency AEMET. That included in normally arid parts of the country such as the southern Andalusia region where rivers swollen from rainfall prompted authorities to evacuate hundreds of people from their homes. Madrid got more rain in the first three weeks of March than any month since records began in 1893, said Rubén del Campo, a meteorologist and spokesperson at AEMET. But weather swings are a fact of life in Spain. "The blessing and curse of the Spanish climate is exactly that," said Daniel Argüeso, a climate scientist at Spain's University of the Balearic Islands. "We have these periods of extended drought that usually end with these kinds of situations. Having said that, the rain we had in March has been quite exceptional." What does it mean for the drought? For now, the drought that began in 2023 is over. Reservoirs around the country are around 66% full on average, according to Spain's environment and ecological transition ministry. That's better than they have been in a decade, del Campo said. In Catalonia, the Sau reservoir that supplies water to Barcelona is now about 48% full, compared to less than 5% at the same time last year. That's good news for Jordi Galabardes and his wife Montse Bufils, who live in the nearby village of San Martin Sescorts, in Catalonia. Last year, they couldn't water their garden due to water restrictions. "In just three weeks, it's filled up a lot, which gives hope that we can recover all this," Galabardes said on Monday near the reservoir's edge. How long the country's water reserves remain at healthy levels depends on factors like how much more springtime rain the country gets and just how hot and dry the summer is. But climate scientists predict that Spain will likely stay free of water restrictions at least through the summer. "We've come out of drought, but it's not that there is a huge excess of water," del Campo said. "Spain is a country where water resources are never abundant." Is climate change causing Spain's volatile weather? Climate change is likely making Spain's fluctuations more intense, climate scientists say. Around the world, rising temperatures stoked by climate change are speeding up the hydrological cycle in which water moves between Earth and the atmosphere. That is triggering more extreme weather, such as prolonged droughts and intense rainfall, climate scientists say. A warmer atmosphere can also hold more water, about 7% more for every degree Celsius, scientists say. That means when it does rain, it's more likely to be heavy. "We can now go several months without a drop of rain, and then have a major storm again in the summer," said Jorge Olcina, a geography professor at the University of Alicante in Spain. "In other words, we're losing the regularity of the rains." But attributing a single event like the rainfall this month to climate change remains difficult, in part due to Spain's natural weather extremes, Argüeso said. "The fact that the variability is so large is an obstacle in measuring climate change," he said.
