2024 was the third warmest year in Spain since 1961, the beginning of the historical series of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). It has only been surpassed by 2023 and 2022. Furthermore, although overall it was a wet year, it was dry in the southeast of the peninsula and in the Canary Islands. In fact, on the islands, it was the least rainy year in the entire historical series.
These are the conclusions of the advance of the main climatic characteristics of 2024 in Spain published this Monday by Aemet. In the text, the state agency indicates that the year was extremely warm and that the average temperature over peninsular Spain was 15ºC, 1.1ºC above the annual average based on the reference period that goes from 1991 to 2020. Likewise, highlights that the ten warmest years in the historical series have been recorded in the 21st century.
By area, the year was extremely warm in most of the east, center and south of peninsular Spain, while it was very warm in the Cantabrian regions and in the western third of the peninsula. At the same time, 2024 was also extremely warm in both archipelagos.
Throughout this year, episodes of higher than normal temperatures were frequent, according to Aemet. In this regard, the months of January, August and November were the warmest since records began. Likewise, the winter, which includes December 2023, was also the warmest in the series, tied with 2019-2020. Otherwise, the spring was warm and both the summer and the fall were very warm.
In summer, three heat waves were recorded in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands: one between July 18 and 20, another between July 23 and August 1 and a last one between August 4 and 12. . In total, this meant a total of 22 days under that situation, which means one in four of the summer total. Among the stations of the main network, the state organization highlights the maximum temperatures of 43.5ºC in Morón de la Frontera and 43.3ºC in Badajoz, both recorded on July 24.
At the other extreme, that of low temperatures, Aemet details that there was no cold wave, although there were several episodes with temperatures below normal. In this framework, the longest period with colder than normal values occurred between February 23 and March 11, a period that stood out especially for its low daytime values. Then, the lowest temperatures in the main network stations were -9.2ºC in Soria on January 21 and -8.7ºC in Molina de Aragón on December 30.
A wet year
2024 was wet as a whole, with a value over mainland Spain of 669.1 liters per square meter (l/m2), which represents 105% of the normal value in the reference period from 1991 to 2020. Aemet specifies which was the twenty-sixth wettest year since 1961 and the tenth of the 21st century. Meanwhile, in the Canary Islands, the year has been the driest of the series, with a total precipitation of 138.8 l/m2.
The progress of the state organization has indicated that the accumulated precipitation in 2024 was higher than the normal value in practically the entire Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. In parts of the province of Valencia it doubled, in this case largely due to the precipitation collected on October 29, the day of the catastrophic damage. On the other hand, the accumulated precipitation was less than 75% of normal in areas of the southeast of the peninsula (especially in the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Almería) and in the Canary archipelago.
Seasonally, winter and spring were normal in terms of precipitation; The summer was very humid and the autumn was humid, with a month of October that ended up becoming the rainiest in the entire historical series. However, November and December 2024 were the second driest of the 21st century.
Abundant rainfall
Throughout those 12 months there were several episodes of abundant rainfall. The most notable obviously took place between October 28 and November 4 and, especially, on the 29th in the province of Valencia. The situation was a consequence of the presence of a dana located over the Strait of Gibraltar, with an atmospheric configuration that favored the organization of important precipitation systems. By area, they mainly affected the Mediterranean area and eastern Castile-La Mancha. In Turís (Valencia), 771 l/m2 were recorded on the 29th.
Regarding the highest amounts of precipitation in 24 hours at main network stations, the state agency lists the 144.2 l/m2 collected in Barcelona/airport on November 4 or the 118.8 l/m2 on the 20th. November in Hondarribia/Malkarroa. Regarding the total annual precipitation, it mentions the 2,247.2 l/m2 of Hondarribia/Malkarroa or the 2,002.8 l/m2 of Vigo/airport.
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