A review of the historical and reference climate data that have frozen Spain since 1920
It is winter. It’s cold. Although perhaps coming from the warmest year at least since 1961, according to the 2022 climate summary published by the AEMET, feeling the thermometer below zero leaving the house at 8 in the morning freezes anyone. The average minimum temperature in the peninsula in January is 1.1 degrees, according to the reference period of 1981-2010. A ‘trifle’ for those who set foot on the street yesterday at that time in Puerto del Pico (Ávila), where -11.9 degrees were recorded, or in Sabiñánigo (Huesca), with -11.8. And perhaps an adventure for those who paved the streets yesterday in Estepona (Málaga), with a minimum of 10 degrees at that same time, or with 20 degrees in the Canary Islands.
The cold line in Spain, the average of the minimums according to the reference period, begins at those 1.1 degrees in January and reaches 15.2 degrees in July and August. Values that are far, far away, from those -32 degrees that were recorded in Lake Estany Gento (Lleida) in 1956.
Reference period 1981-2010
Minimum temperature events
1/4/1971
minimum of -27.6ºC in Camesa de Valdivia (Palencia)
2/2/1956
-32°C in Lake Gento (Lleida),
the lowest recorded in Spain
3/1/2005
minimum of -19ºC in Hontoria del Pinar (Burgos)
4/1/1977
minimum temperature of -4.6ºC in Lluc (Mallorca)
5/6/1991
Frosts in the interior of the Peninsula. minimum of -5.4ºC in Villanubla (Valladolid)
6/8/2013
minimum of 1.1ºC In Salamanca
7/11/1993
Weak frosts in Castilla y León, reaching
-2ºC in the north of Palencia and León
8/24/2007
minimum 11.7ºC in San Bartolome Tirajana (Las Palmas)
9/25/1984
Lows of -3 ºC in Ávila and -2 ºC in Palencia
10/18/2009
Minimum of -8 ºC in Abioncillo de Calatañazor (Soria)
11/30/1978
Minimum of -5 ºC in Lluc (Mallorca) and
of -3 ºC in the
palma airport
12/25/2001
Minimum of -19 ºC
in Manresa
Reference period 1981-2010
Minimum temperature events
1/4/1971
minimum of -27.6ºC in Camesa de Valdivia (Palencia)
2/2/1956
-32°C in Lake Gento (Lleida), the lowest recorded in Spain
3/1/2005
minimum of -19ºC in Hontoria del Pinar (Burgos)
4/1/1977
Minimum temperature
of -4.6ºC in Lluc (Mallorca)
5/6/1991
Frosts in the interior of the Peninsula. minimum of -5.4ºC in Villanubla (Valladolid)
6/8/2013
minimum of 1.1ºC In Salamanca
7/11/1993
Weak frosts in Castilla
and Leon, coming to reach -2ºC in the north of Palencia and León
8/24/2007
minimum 11.7ºC in
San Bartolome
Tirajana (Las Palmas)
9/25/1984
minimum of -3ºC in Ávila and -2 ºC in Palencia
10/18/2009
minimum of -8ºC
in Abioncillo of
Calatanazor (Soria)
11/30/1978
minimum of -5ºC in Lluc (Mallorca) and -3 ºC
in the airport
Palm
12/25/2001
minimum of -19ºC
in Manresa
Reference period 1981-2010
Minimum temperature events
1/4/1971
minimum of -27.6ºC in Camesa de Valdivia (Palencia)
2/2/1956
-32°C in Lake Gento (Lleida), the lowest recorded in Spain
3/1/2005
minimum of -19ºC in Hontoria del Pinar (Burgos)
4/1/1977
Minimum temperature
of -4.6ºC in Lluc (Mallorca)
5/6/1991
Frosts in the interior of the Peninsula. minimum of -5.4ºC in Villanubla (Valladolid)
6/8/2013
minimum of 1.1ºC In Salamanca
7/11/1993
Weak frosts in Castilla
and Leon, coming to reach -2ºC in the north of Palencia and León
8/24/2007
minimum 11.7ºC in
San Bartolome
Tirajana (Las Palmas)
9/25/1984
minimum of -3ºC in Ávila and -2 ºC in Palencia
10/18/2009
minimum of -8ºC
in Abioncillo of
Calatanazor (Soria)
11/30/1978
minimum of -5ºC in Lluc (Mallorca) and -3 ºC
in the airport
Palm
12/25/2001
minimum of -19ºC
in Manresa
Reference period 1981-2010
Minimum temperature events
1/4/1971
minimum of -27.6ºC in Camesa de Valdivia (Palencia)
2/2/1956
-32°C in Lake Gento (Lleida), the lowest recorded in Spain
3/1/2005
minimum of -19ºC in Hontoria del Pinar (Burgos)
4/1/1977
Minimum temperature
of -4.6ºC in Lluc (Mallorca)
5/6/1991
Frosts in the interior of the Peninsula. minimum of -5.4ºC in Villanubla (Valladolid)
6/8/2013
minimum of 1.1ºC In Salamanca
7/11/1993
Weak frosts in Castilla
and Leon, coming to reach -2ºC in
north of Palencia and León
8/24/2007
minimum 11.7ºC in Saint Barthelemy
Tirajana (Las Palmas)
9/25/1984
minimum of -3ºC in Ávila and -2 ºC in Palencia
10/18/2009
minimum of -8ºC in Abioncillo of
Calatanazor (Soria)
11/30/1978
minimum of -5ºC in Lluc (Mallorca) and
-3 ºC at Palma airport
12/25/2001
minimum of -19ºC in Manresa
Thus, the degrees that remain from the winter coat to the summer cardigan (from the lowest average to the highest) are about 14 in all of Spain. Although, in this study period, which serves as a comparison for subsequent years, there are summers with minimum averages of 9.9 degrees in León, and winters at -2.1 degrees in Lleida.
That February of 1956,
when the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the National Bank of Climatological Data of AEMET was recorded, Spain suffered three waves of cold air that left record numbers in many network observatories. That month is the record of the absolute minimum of Cádiz (-1), Santander (-1.7), Cáceres (5.8), Valencia (-7.2) or San Sebastián (-12.1). The vast majority of these records are recorded before the turn of the century. Barely half a dozen in the last ten years.
In 2021, with Madrid paralyzed with Filomena, when the Cuatro Vientos station marked -13 degrees. In Toledo they were -13.4, in Teruel, -21, and in Calamocha -21.3 degrees.
Most of these record numbers, 40% of the total, were recorded in January. For this last day of the year, the AEMET foresees that, although there are still frosts in a good part of the territory, the temperatures will moderate. An anticyclone enters from the north and spreads over the peninsula and the Balearic Islands and the wind is expected to decrease and the wind to moderate. February is the second coldest month in the reference series, with 1.8 degrees in peninsular territory.
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