A ‘click’ with the mouse of his computer is enough to review the meteorological data of the Iberian Peninsula and he is one of the authorized voices of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). Passionate about this science from a very young age, Rubén del Campo for several years has been in charge of explaining to the media the weather forecasts for the coming months, the extraordinary phenomena we are experiencing… But above all he is optimistic, because, he assures , “it is in our power to avoid the worst of climate change”.
–How can we explain the heat wave we have experienced?
-It has happened as always. The atmospheric stability makes it shine and the temperatures rise. Then a very warm air mass has arrived from North Africa that has triggered them. In addition, it has brought a lot of suspension dust and this has meant that the expected maximum temperatures were not as high as was said at the beginning and they could have been one degree two degrees below.
–Have historical data been beaten with this heat wave?
–The most striking has been that of Valencia capital that has registered 44.7 degrees, surpassing that of August 2010. At the airport they reached 46.8 degrees, 3.4ºC above the 1986 record. They have also broken records in Soria, which reached a temperature of 38.9 degrees and the previous record was 38.7 degrees, which was from last year. This is an 80 year old series. At dawn, quite a few records for the highest minimum temperature may have been broken, but we still have to validate them.
“On the night of July 18, Malaga did not drop below 31.4 degrees”
-The daytime temperatures are striking with 46 and 45 degrees, but more and more people are talking about torrid nights or equatorial nights…
–Yes, they are those in which it does not drop below 25 degrees. In cities like Valencia they have multiplied by four in recent decades due to a double combined effect: the growth of the urban heat island effect due to its size and climate change, which is undoubtedly pulling up temperatures both in the sea surface and coastal areas. These torrid nights are increasing, but not only in Valencia, for example, in Barcelona until 2003, at the airport, which is an area that was not in the heart of the city, because until 2003 it was not there had been no 11 torrid and since then they have been more than 40. But, perhaps, we are going to have to start thinking about adding in our meteorological dictionary that it is the one with hellish nights and these are when they do not drop below 30 degrees. At the moment there aren’t many, but we already have some hellish nights. like on July 18 in Malaga, which did not drop below 31.4 degrees. In addition, it is possible that during the weekend some points in the south of the island of Gran Canaria do not drop below 30 or 32 degrees either.
“In the remainder of August it will continue to be hot”
–And the projections for the remainder of the summer? More heat? Less?
–For the remainder of August it is hot, we cannot talk about a new wave because certain thresholds have to be exceeded and it is soon. But of course the forecasts say that the temperatures, in most of Spain, will be above average and it will not be an August, as was said before, of cold in the face. It’s going to be hotter than usual and although June and July have been wet and cool, they’ve also seen temperatures above normal.
– Is there anything positive that the meteorological data tell us?
-Yeah. Although some try to deny it, we are facing anthropogenic warming and what we are observing is a consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. This is also good news.
-As?
–Because that means that it can be reversed and that if we get down to work, although we are not going to stop warming in the coming decades because we have already emitted and there is a climatic inertia that is difficult to stop, we can avoid the worst effects of climate change. Throughout history, the human being has adapted to changes and this is one more. In Spain we have to adapt to a warmer country, which will have fewer water resources and more pronounced droughts, but it is in our power to stop the worst effects.
#Shortly #talk #hellish #nights