Although this summer has been the warmest documented in the world so far, in Spain it was the third worst in its ranking, which begins in 1961 and continues for now to lead the terrible summer of 2022, followed by the summer of 2003, according to the seasonal climatological equilibrium, published this Thursday was published by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in an event presented by the Third Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco), Teresa Ribera, who once again supported the “very reliable, reliable, “solid and public information” from the agency and its informative work on weather and climate. This analysis was presented for the first time at the ministry’s headquarters.
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“It was a very warm summer, very close to the values of 2003,” emphasized Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo, for whom it does not matter that it is the first, second or third worst weather. , but the trend: nine of the ten warmest summers in Spain have been recorded this century and four of the five warmest since 2015. “Hot summers are becoming more frequent,” he emphasized.
The average temperature in mainland Spain was 23.4°, 1.3° above the normal average – the reference period was recently updated and extends from 1991 to 2020, so the comparison is made with the already evident effects of climate change.
The highs were 1.2° higher, but the worst were the lows, which were 1.4° higher. This is the second summer with the highest lows after 2022, when the anomaly was 1.6° above normal. This summer season, the ghost of a new kind of nights has emerged that previously had no name. If the thermometer values do not fall below 20°, we speak of tropical nights; if they do not fall below 25°, we speak of hot or equatorial nights.
🧵The summer of 2023 was the third warmest in the historical series in Spain, surpassed only by the summers of 2022 and 2003.
Nine of the ten warmest summers since the series began in 1961 have been recorded in the 21st century. Four of the five warmest since 2015. pic.twitter.com/gjZzyNRS7E– AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) September 14, 2023
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But this summer Málaga experienced its first night above 30° – in fact there were two, 31.6° “at the coldest moment of the night” on July 20th and 30.3° on August 2nd – and in Guía de Isora (Tenerife ). At least 37° was measured on August 12th. They weren’t the only ones, in fact numerous resorts in the Canary Islands experienced several nights like this in a row in early August. Climatologist Javier Martín Vide suggested calling them hellish, flaming, or drowning, and Aemet chose the former. “The [en referencia al cambio climático y al vertiginoso aumento de las temperaturas] “This is faster than our ability to observe,” commented the expert. Currently, Aemet does not have a tally of the total number of tropical, hot and hellish nights recorded in this station, nor a detailed analysis of their proliferation and spread in recent decades.
The Canary Islands suffered two heatwaves of five days each for a total of 24 days and mainland Spain suffered four, two in July and two in August, for a total of 24 days – eight in July and 16 in August. “If we compare it with last summer, which was exceptional, it seems little because there were 41 days under a heat wave, almost half the season, but this year Spain has been in an extreme situation with high temperatures for more than a year Temperatures quarter.” part of days. The average in the eighties, nineties and the first decade of the 21st century was only seven days, we multiply this number by three. “The trend is an increase of three days per decade”, contextualized the speaker. After 2022, 2015 and 2017, this is the fourth summer with the most heat wave days since 1975.
Del Campo also expressed concern about the ferocity with which temperature records were being broken: “Previously records were broken by tenths, but this year the big difference is striking.” For example, on August 10th the temperature at Valencia airport reached 46.8°, three and a half degrees more than the previous anniversary.”
Added to this heat on land is the heat of the waters surrounding the land, which is the worst in recorded history. “It’s breaking records, so far this year the average temperature from January to August is almost off scale. The temperature is 19.5°, more than 1° above normal and half a degree above the previous record set in 2020,” the expert noted. The problem is not just what it means in terms of migrations or species extinctions, but also that warmer oceans are “fuel” for more intense precipitation.
A “very wet” summer and an expected “rainy” autumn
The summer – meteorologically it ended on August 31, although the astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere will begin on Saturday, September 23 at 8:50 a.m. Spanish time – was very humid, with an average rainfall in the Spanish peninsula of 87 liters per square meter., 24% more than normal. It was the third wettest summer of this century.
But the water was very unevenly distributed – three quarters of it fell in June – and the worst thing is that at the end of the season the water ran out long-term meteorological drought that the country entered in December – meaning there has been less rain than normal for three years in a row. In this hydrological year, which began on October 1st and only lasts 20 days, an average of 529.5 liters per square meter was collected in Spain until September 10th, while the normal rate would have been 607. The rainfall deficit is 13%.
The acting third vice-president, Teresa Ribera, and the Aemet spokesman, Rubén del Campo, present this Thursday in Madrid the summary of the summer and the progress of the autumn. Daniel Gonzalez (EFE)
Del Campo has focused on the dire water shortage plaguing the south: “The Guadiana and Guadalquivir reservoirs – which are similar to, but not exactly the same as, hydrological basins – are already experiencing the longest meteorological drought on record. It started in 2016, seven years compared to the four years in the 1990s, although this year was more intense.” In the Eastern Pyrenees basin in Catalonia, this is already “the most severe drought” and in the Ebro basin “the second most severe”. “We are facing longer and worse droughts,” concluded the Aemet spokesman.
The fall seasonal forecast “very robustly” suggests that this season will be warmer – a 70% chance -, even much warmer than normal – between 50% and 70% – and also rainier, although in this case ” the “Uncertainty is greater” – the probability is between 40% and 50%. The big question is whether the drought will reverse, and the answer is probably not. “If the forecast comes true, the drought will be alleviated, but it would be necessary for the fall to be particularly and exceptionally rainy to get out of it,” says Del Campo, who remembers ending the fall-winter of 2017 “It was “the rainiest spring in history.”
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