The first week of 2023 brings a normalization of temperatures to Spain, after a hot start to the year in which values were up to 7° above usual, especially in the north of the peninsula. This Monday, except in the Mediterranean, there will be a significant and practically generalized drop in thermometers, until reaching the values more typical of this time of year, with some weak frosts in the interior, especially in the north-west quadrant Forecast Christmas Special of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). In addition, the weather will be stable during these first days of the year, with a generally little cloudy sky and light rains that will be limited to the eastern half of the peninsula and Galicia.
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Rubén del Campo, spokesman for Aemet, explains that 2023 began “with violence” when five temperature records were broken on Sunday 1st, including those of Bilbao and San Sebastián, where the maximum and minimum temperatures were around 25 ° were between 14° and 16°, records more typical for July. Segovia experienced the warmest January night since 1989, the year the station has been in its current location, with 10.3°C. “Both December 31, 2022 and January 1, 2023 are among the two warmest of the series. In both cases, they are very close to December 31, 2021 and January 1, 2022, when there was a warm episode, already extraordinary, which reappeared in a year,” the speaker contextualizes. And all this after a 2022 that ended as the warmest year in Spain since at least 1916, with a big difference compared to the two previous warmest (2017 and 2020). This is the first time on record that the average annual temperature exceeded 15°C, specifically 15.4°C, which is 1.7°C above normal (2017 and 2020 at 14.8°C, one degree the anomaly).
The year 2023 began with very high temperatures for the time. On January 1st, temperature records for the month were broken at several main grid observatories.
Outstanding is the 25.1ºC of Bilbao, beating the record of 24.4ºC registered just a year ago.
👇 pic.twitter.com/0cjrA9bunp— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) January 2, 2023
However, this Monday there will be a general drop in temperature throughout Spain due to the arrival of a colder Atlantic air mass than the current one after the passage of the front that penetrates through the north-west of the peninsula. In no way will it be about intense cold, but rather about usual temperatures for this time, with daily temperatures generally remaining above average.
The front will continue eastward, losing strength and in its wake in the central and inner strip of the eastern half of the peninsula, causing rains that are generally light, without reaching the Mediterranean Sea. At the start of the day they could be strong locally and with a storm in western Andalucia where there is a yellow warning, the lowest on a scale of three, in rural and coastal Cadiz and rural Seville due to the risk 15 liters per square meter accumulate in one hour. After the front has passed, it stops raining from west to east. In the Canary Islands, the extreme of the front will leave scattered rains, even some storms, more in the north-west of the archipelago.
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In the next few days, a high pressure area will stabilize the weather. From Tuesday to Friday there is a slightly cloudy sky and there is practically no rain. This Tuesday it is likely that there will be light rain in points of the eastern half of the peninsula connected to the remains of the front line, as well as in Galicia. In the following days there could only be light rain in the strait and from the 5th in the extreme north of the peninsula. In the Canaries, rain is possible on Tuesday, especially in the western islands, but stability prevails for the rest of the week. As for temperatures, nighttime temperatures will generally suffer a drop, particularly early in the morning Monday through Tuesday, with frosts across much of the peninsula’s interior generally mild. The daytime ones remain with few changes, except on Tuesday in the Mediterranean, where they fall.
So the kings find themselves on Thursday with a calm and sunny day to ride and gift, which will start with morning fog and haze in areas of the peninsula’s interior and the Mediterranean coast. 20th are expected in Girona, Malaga or Huelva; 18th in Bilbao, Barcelona, Castellón and Córdoba; 13° in Burgos, Madrid, Ciudad Real and Cuenca, and the coldest environment will be in Lleida or Zamora, where it will not reach 10° in fog.
Given the last weekend of celebrations, Aemet expects the arrival of a very active front in Galicia on Saturday, linked to a storm over the British Isles that will fall in this municipality and in the Cantabrian municipalities, the Pyrenees, Castile, León and the northern Extremadura. On Sunday, the front will advance eastward, so the rain could spread to the rest of the peninsula, affecting movements of the repatriation operation. Temperatures are likely to rise again on Saturday.