Above normal heat will continue through the weekend and at least through Tuesday

Residents of Teruel combat the high temperatures of the third heat wave by cooling off in the waters of the swimming pool of the city's San Fernando sports center. EFE/Antonio Garcia (EFE)

The intense and suffocating heat, "the predominant note of this summer of 2022" in the words of Rubén del Campo, spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), will persist day and night in most of Spain during the end of week and at least until next Tuesday, with values ​​between 3° and 10° above normal for these heights of summer in general and between 5° and 10° in the north.

Del Campo advances that it is possible that, facing the second half of next week, a thermal rise will occur again and that the "unusually high temperatures for the time" will last "at least until mid-August" in the largest part of the country.

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The key to an unbearable summer: the persistence of extreme heat

Based on the “observed and predicted temperature records”, Del Campo indicates that it is possible that this episode of strong heat will end up being considered the third heat wave of the summer, which begins between July 30 or 31 and , its end, next August 5 or 6.

The situation is, once again, at the limit of "the strict thresholds of intensity, extension and duration" required for it to be classified

as a wave, for which Aemet has not issued a special notice, although once all the data has been reviewed

the agency does not rule out that it was, as has happened on some previous occasions.

For example, on Wednesday some thirty stations in the main Aemet network reached or exceeded 40°, with Xátiva (Valencia) leading the table of the 10 highest maximums with 42.9°.

In the Canary Islands, in San Bartolomé de Tirajana they reached 41° and did not drop below 31° at dawn in Agüimes ―there is still no name for this type of night, but the climatologist Javier Martín Vide proposes infernal, flaming, scorching or suffocating―, while on the Peninsula there were torrid nights -above 25°- on the shores of the Mediterranean, with 25.9° in Almería and 25.2° at the Barcelona airport, as well as in the Balearic Islands, the Ebro valley and points in the area center.

The persistence of the heat this summer is extraordinary, and it seems that it will continue: Although during the second half of this week there will be slight temperature drops, unusually high temperatures are forecast for the next 15 days in large areas of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

pic.twitter.com/grBhnjiqIx

– AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) August 3, 2022

Madrid stayed at the gates of the torrid night with 24.9 °, but "has already accumulated eight nights this summer, much more than any other previous summer, because until now they held the record, in a triple tie, 1995, 2012, and 2017, with three torrid nights in each of those three summers”, emphasizes Del Campo.

The most striking thing is that, until 1987, none had been produced.

And it is not that on the rest of the nights things improve and you can rest: the capital has spent 27 consecutive nights above 20 °.

This Friday, temperatures will rise in the northern third, where they fell on Thursday, while in the rest of the country they will remain high and without major changes.

During the weekend and the first two of the next one, the maximum 35° or 36° will be exceeded in the Ebro basin, North plateau, central area, large areas of the southern and interior half of the Mediterranean and Balearic communities.

There are 10 communities with a heat warning, which is orange - second level of three - in Catalonia and yellow - the lowest level - in Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid and the Valencian Community .

It will reach or exceed 38°/40° in the valleys of the Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir and, on the Mediterranean coast, Barcelona, ​​Valencia or Alicante will be around 33°/35° in the central hours of the day, while at night they will not drop 20°, as in the northeast, the peninsular Mediterranean area and the Balearic Islands, and large areas of the center and south.

In some of these areas, especially on the coast and downtown area, hot nights can occur.

#dry storm this afternoon in #Zaragoza has knocked down trees, and blown up awnings, forcing firefighters to make 78 trips #gusty wind that has reached 84 km/h but from an SSW direction not usual, that's why more damage.

Now we see it in #AN2@AEMET_Aragon pic.twitter.com/CLLngOZER8

– Aragon TV El Tiempo (@eltiempo_atv) August 4, 2022

On the Mediterranean coast, one of the causes of these high minimums is that the sea suffers from a strong and long wave of marine heat, in Catalonia and the Valencian Community it is between 2° and 3° above normal, in Murcia and Andalusia up to 4th and between 3rd and 4th in the Balearic Islands.

“This anomaly will remain or even increase in the coming days”, underlines Del Campo.

As for rain, little or nothing.

The skies will generally be slightly cloudy or clear, except in the Bay of Biscay, where this Friday it may rain lightly, while afternoon storms will continue in the northern half of the peninsula, which may be strong and accompanied by strong wind and hail.

There are warnings for rain and storms this Friday in Aragon, Castilla y León, Catalonia and the Valencian Community.

In some points it is possible that there are dry storms – with very little or no precipitation, strong electrical equipment and sometimes strong gusts of wind – “a natural source of forest fires”.

The risk remains "very high or extreme" in most of the interior of the peninsula.

In the Canary Islands, the warm environment will continue for the rest of the week and the first days of the next, with early mornings above 25° and more than 36° or 38° during the day in the midlands of Gran Canaria and more than 32° in the south of the islands.

04:35

Guide to combat heat stroke

Two people cool off in a fountain in the center of Valencia. Photo: ANA ESCOBAR (EFE) |

Video: EPV

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