After one of the warmest springs of this century, the first day of summer, which begins this Thursday at 10:51 p.m. It will be marked by cold and rain due to the passage of a DANA. Despite this atypical beginning, the summer 2024 It will most likely be warmer than normal throughout Spain, in a season in which rains could be scarcer than usual.
The spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), Rubén Del Campo, announced this Wednesday It could be among the 20% of the warmest recorded in the northern third of the peninsula and the easternmost Canary Islands. Specifically, there is between a 50 and 70% chance of this being the case, although in the rest of Spain this probability is lower.
Furthermore, Del Campo has detailed that the next quarter could be drier than usual, especially in the north and interior of the peninsula. Even so, he has asked for “caution” in the prediction of rain compared to that of temperature, “which seems clearer.”
The AEMET spokesperson added that it is anticipated a similar situation for Europa during the summer, with a considerably high probability, greater than 70%, that the next quarter will be ranked among the warmest on record. This prediction covers not only several countries in southern Europe, but also regions in northern Africa.
On the other hand, Del Campo has detailed that The spring of 2024 has been the tenth warmest since the beginning of the AEMET series in 1961 and the eighth warmest since 2006. This means that springs with temperatures above normal have piled up in the last 18 years, “one more example of the warming that Spain's climate is suffering,” the spokesperson points out.
In turn, he specified that The rain “has been close to average” and? 189.4 liters per square meter (l/m2) have fallen, 5% more than usual. However, during this season, notable geographical contrasts in rainfall, from extremely wet conditions in areas such as Galicia and parts of Andalusia, to significant droughts in the Valencian Community and Alicante. March stood out as the fourth wettest month of the century, while April and May were considerably drier than usual.
At the end of spring, the basins that drain into the Atlantic Ocean have emerged from the meteorological drought (12 months) due to lack of rain, but the basins on the Mediterranean slope continue in that situation, with the exception of the Ebro. On the other hand, if analyzes the situation of long-term water scarcity (36 months), the long-term drought continues in much of the Peninsula, the AEMET spokesperson concluded.