The summer of 2023 has been the third warmest since records began (1961) behind the summers of 2022 and 2003, recording an average temperature of 23.4ºC, which is 1.3ºC above the average for this season . And although it has not been a summer of records in terms of heat waves (we have had 4 with 24 days under extreme temperatures, far from the 42 days of the summer of 2022), historical marks have been recorded, such as the maximum of 46, 8ºC in Valencia on August 10 (three degrees more than the previous record of 1966) and the infernal night (so called when the thermometer does not drop below 30 degrees) that was experienced in Malaga on July 20, with 31.6ºC minimum temperature (2.2 degrees higher than the 1942 record).
This was stated this Thursday by the spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), Rubén del Campo, in a press conference with the acting vice president of the Government and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco), Teresa. Ribera, in which they have presented the meteorological balance for summer 2023, and in which they have also announced that this autumn will be “very warm” and rainy, which will alleviate the drought situation that Spain is suffering.
The sea temperature has also broken a heat record, with an average of 19.5 degrees, 0.5ºC more than the previous maximum
This summer has been the third with the highest average temperature in the last 62 years, but Del Campo focused on how climate change is affecting summer temperatures, pointing out that nine of the ten hottest summers since records began have occurred in the current 21st century, and four of the five hottest, between 2015 and 2023. All of this confirms the trend that Spain is heading towards a greater frequency of extreme heat episodes.
For months, June was warm; July, very warm; and extremely warm August with an average temperature of 1.8ºC above average, making it the warmest August in the historical series, tied with that of 2003.
The Aemet spokesperson also drew attention to the record that has been broken in sea temperature, with an average of 19.5 degrees in our coastal waters, half a degree more than the previous record from 2020. «And warmer water “It is fuel for those intense rainfall storms,” he warned.
The summer, as a whole, has been very humid in terms of precipitation. In the quarter, 87 liters per square meter were collected, which represents 124% of the normal value, making it the third rainiest summer of the 21st century after the summers of 2010 and 2018.
Very warm and rainy autumn
Regarding the fall of 2023 (considering the meteorological fall that covers the months of September, October and November), Del Campo pointed out that all the models indicate that it will be very warm (“and I don’t say warm, but very warm,” he emphasized) with More than 50% chance of higher than normal temperatures. “We can’t get that wet with the rains,” he joked, “but the models indicate that it will be a rainy autumn, especially in the northwest of the peninsula.”
These rains will alleviate the meteorological drought situation that the country has suffered since December 2022, “although to end a long-lasting drought an autumn with a large amount of abundant rainfall is needed,” said Del Campo, who recalled that basins such as the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana have been in a drought situation since 2016. «It is the longest since records exist, lasting seven years. However, the most intense since there are records is in the internal basin of Catalonia, while in the Ebro basin it is the second most intense. »In other words, we are facing longer and harsher droughts,« he lamented.
Del Campo warned that this weekend, specifically starting tomorrow, Friday, a storm in the Atlantic will leave abundant rain in a good part of the Peninsula, with very heavy rainfall in the Mediterranean, especially in the Valencia area. “They will be intense but not like Dana’s two weeks ago,” he concluded.
Minister Ribera accompanied Del Campo to support the Aemet after the latest darts launched by the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida for “not fine-tuning”, as they criticized, with their predictions about the Dana . “We must trust the Aemet data and trust the ability of those who know the most when evaluating this information,” stressed the head of Miteco, who highlighted the work of the “fantastic Aemet professionals” and He stressed that the effect of climate change “is observed data, pure reality.”
#hottest #summer #autumn #warm #rainy