Spain is experiencing a heat wave in the middle of May, 30 days before the start of summer. On Thursday May 19th, the Generalitat of Catalonia activated the alert for “extreme” temperatures for Saturday and, above all, Sunday. It is the earliest warning launched in Catalonia in the last 10 years.
Parts of Spain have experienced a record heatwave for the month of May as temperatures reached 40.3 degrees Celsius. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) describes this episode as “very unusual” for this time of year, in which values between 10 and 15 degrees above average are being recorded. On Friday, the city of Jaén in Andalucía, southern Spain, recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius.
The early morning of May 21 was extraordinarily warm for the time of year in much of the center and south of the peninsula.
State Meteorological Agency
After several very hot days with their respective tropical nights, one of the most frequent questions now is: When will temperatures drop? This occurs when a heatwave presses on. According to Reuters, an AEMET spokesperson said earlier in the week that, if officially confirmed, it could be the first ever heatwave recorded in May.
The Agency also stated that the city of Segovia had experienced its first ever “tropical night” in May, defined as a night where temperatures do not fall below 20 degrees Celsius
The high temperatures will continue, at least, until Tuesday May 24th. The extreme heat has been produced by the entry of a very warm and dry air mass from North Africa. In addition, it has not come alone, but with haze: there is an important mass of dust in suspension from the Sahara that is noticeable in Barcelona and the Catalan coast, as well as in Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla y Leon.
According to CNN, several countries around the world have been experiencing major heatwaves recently, including India and Pakistan. In the US, temperatures have reached 33 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) in Texas.
