The heat wave ends with 44° in Murcia and Malaga

After a terrible Tuesday, in which Figueres (Girona) marked 45.4 °, the highest temperature ever recorded in Catalonia, more than 140 stations of the State Meteorological Agency network (Aemet) reached or exceeded 40 ° and in more than 45 observatories did not fall below 25 °, Spain faces this Wednesday the last day of the heat wave that affects the entire Mediterranean basin. The good news is a considerable relief in the northern third of the Peninsula thanks to "the entry of winds from the north, which leads to a fairly sharp drop in temperatures," reports Rubén del Campo, spokesman for Aemet. The fall is extraordinary ―10° less than the previous day― in points of Euskadi and Navarra, 8° in Aragon and softer in the rest.

However, the bad news is that these same winds arrive burning, "in the form of terral", to the south of the Valencian Community, Murcia and the extreme south of Andalusia – the coast and the prelitoral of Malaga and the eastern part of Almería – where a rebound of up to 5°/6° was even expected. Thus, the worst is in Murcia, under red warning, the maximum, by 44°, and in Alicante and Malaga, by 42º. In other areas of the eastern and southern thirds of the Peninsula and in the Balearic Islands were expected from 38º to 40º, so the warning is orange, the second of a scale of three, in Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha and Catalonia, and yellow, the minimum, in Extremadura, Community of Madrid and Ceuta and Melilla. And the forecasts have been fulfilled: Alhama de Murcia has arrived this afternoon at 44.1 ° and in Malaga, the airport at 44.2 °, Alora at 44.1 ° and Coín at 43.9 ° while in Alicante 41.5 ° have been registered in Orihuela.

A man photographs a thermometer of Ronda de Levante de Murcia, this Wednesday. Marcial Guillen (EFE)

In the rest of the country, there will be "a slight drop", so "it will continue to be a very hot day in the center, west and south of the Peninsula and in the Balearic Islands". For example, in Lleida you can still reach 38°/40°, in the Balearic Islands you can also expect from 38° to 40° and in the interior of the Valencian Community, Albacete and the Guadalquivir valley, from 39° to 41°. "These values contrast with those of the coolest area of the country, the Bay of Biscay, where it will barely reach 25°," says Del Campo.

In addition, because of the heat, in the afternoon there will be storms, many of them dry, with little or no rain, but with very intense wind gusts, in the southeast interior. In Andalusia, Murcia and Valencia there is a yellow warning. The haze, which causes worsening air quality, will move eastward. The very high or extreme risk of fires also continues in most parts of the country. And all this after a night that has probably been the worst of the episode, with a rise of the minimums in Catalonia, central area, Valencian Community, Murcia and Andalusia. "In points of the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community it has not dropped below 28 ° and about 90 stations of the Aemet network had not dropped below 25 ° – what is called torrid or equatorial night – until 8.30 ", details Del Campo.

Ten records of maximum and minimum

On the first day of the wave, on Monday, two monthly records were broken in Toledo (maximum of 42.9°) and Teruel (minimum of 20.6°), while on Tuesday, in addition to the absolute record of 45.4° in Figueres, the records of monthly maximums were also broken in Lleida (43.2°), Teruel (40.6°), Albacete (41.5°) and in the Zaragoza town of Daroca (40.5°). In addition, there were three absolute minimum records in Cuenca (24.7°), Calamocha (22.2°) and Daroca (25.3°).

The record of Figueres "also represents the absolute temperature record in Catalonia. The previous one was from 2019, with 43.7° in Alcarràs (Lleida), which was surpassed on Tuesday in Porqueres (Girona), with 44.3º", underlines Del Campo. Moreover, they are "possibly the 45° northernmost in Spain: Figueres is at latitude 42º N and in Ourense, also at 42º N, the maximum is at 44.1°", says the expert Miguel Muñoz, of the amateur network Colectivo Meteofreak de Córdoba.

On Monday, July 17, Toledo broke its maximum temperature record for the month of July, with 42.9 ºC.Teruel lived its warmest night in July since there are records, with 20.6 ºC. Both stations have data in their current location since the 80s of the twentieth century.

pic.twitter.com/4ESDhJ6BPP

— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) July 18, 2023

In the same area of Figueres, two observatories of the Servei Metereològic de Cataluña (SMC or Meteocat), Pantà de Darnius-Boadella and Navata (Girona), both with data series of more than 30 years, reached 45.1°, a figure described by the SMC as "unusual" that becomes the new maximum temperature measured by the Xarxa d'Estacions Meterològiques Automàtiques (XEMA), which has 184 stations. The record exceeds by more than one degree the previous ceiling of 43.8° of Alcarràs (Tarragona) of June 2019.

The Aemet station in Figueres, automatic and dating from 2009, is "located within a park in correct conditions, but in an urban environment", clarifies Jose Luis Camacho, spokesman for the Catalan delegation of Aemet, who explains that both networks are "official and complementary". "The maximum heat throughout the Catalan territory occurred in that area between two in the afternoon and a little before four in which the wind turned to the south-southeast and the temperature fell 10 ° in an hour and a half. The relative humidity was around 20% in that interval, so the feeling experienced by the population was to be in front of the open door of an oven (or in a dry sauna)", explains this expert.

"Within the Catalan framework, it is surprising that the record is recorded in the Alt Empordá because the climate is cooler than, for example, in the plains of Lleida. But that is how it has happened. The old record has been broken in a degree and a half, which is very, very relevant, "says Camacho. "Spain has another frying pan near the border with France. Incredible data from the stations of Catalonia, "says the science communicator Vicente Aupí to see that the high levels of the Guadalquivir valley – on Monday it was 44.9° in Andújar (Jaén) and 44.8° in Villanueva del Arzobispo (Jaén) and Montoro (Córdoba) – have been reproduced so far north.

Thus, it was a "historic day of heat" in Catalonia, with "many other Aemet stations that have beaten their local record in Lleida, Barcelona and Girona" and with six XEMA stations that exceeded the old record of 43.8° and 18 measured more than 43°. Also very warm in most of the country: in towns of the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community and Aragon exceeded 43 °, in more than 140 Aemet stations reached or exceeded 40 °, in more than 45 did not fall below 25 ° and did not fall below 28 ° in points of the Balearic Islands.

Tuesday, July 18, was a very warm day in most of the country: more than 140 stations in the Aemet network reached or exceeded 40 ºC. In more than 45 stations it did not fall below 25 ºC. pic.twitter.com/cVxOK2beKY

— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) July 19, 2023

"The 45.4° of Figueres constitutes, for now, the highest temperature reached in Spain during this wave and throughout this summer, curiously in an unusual area. We will see if this Wednesday the level is exceeded in points of the peninsular southeast, "warns the agency, adding that "it depends on many factors such as the wind regime or the presence of cloudiness and dust in suspension."

And finally on Thursday, Aemet will "end the heat wave" with a "general drop in temperatures", to which will be added a second drop on Friday, a day in which even in areas of the northwest "it may be a cool day for the time". Both days will still be "of intense heat", with more than 36 ° in much of the center south and west of the Peninsula and also in the Balearic Islands, especially on Thursday, when the orange warning for excessive heat is maintained in Murcia and yellow in Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Valencia.

But the weekend temperatures will rise again and election Sunday will be "a hot day with stable weather, without rain in most of the country, although some isolated storms could form in mountain areas." Temperatures could exceed 35° in large areas of the country, especially in the northeast, center and south of the Peninsula and in the Balearic Islands.

Two tourists walk through the center of Palma de Mallorca, this Tuesday. FRANCISCO UBILLA

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