Autumn will begin on Saturday 23 September at 8.50 a.m. and will last until Friday 22 December at 4.27 a.m., when winter begins. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) forecasts that the next quarter, from October to December 2023, is most likely to record higher temperatures than usual and that rainfall will also be higher than usual, compared to the reference period 1991-2020.
The tendency of temperatures throughout the quarter, from October to December, is to go down progressively, in average value. The average temperature for the next quarter is expected to be above 15ºC, which is the value that characterizes the quarter.
“During the October to December quarter it usually rains on average 180 l/m². Predictions point to rainfall above that amount. During the first half of autumn, rain and torrential, local and occasional showers, storms, hail, gusts of wind and possible tornadoes or caps of fiblo and waterspouts predominate, and from November, rainfall, in general, moderate and widespread,” details Aemet.
Very hot summer
This summer has been the fourth warmest for 70 years: there has been a 61% increase in the number of tropical nights and a threefold increase in the number of torrid nights. The number of warm and very warm days has also increased. In addition, Aemet assures that it is the second summer with more tropical nights since 1953. The average summer temperature has been 26ºC and there has been an anomaly of 1.6ºC with respect to normal values. In Formentera it has been 27.1ºC and the anomaly of 1ºC. At the airport, with an average temperature of 26ºC, the summer was the 4th warmest (since 1953), and in Formentera, with an average temperature of 27.1ºC, it was the third warmest (data since 1979).
The highest temperatures reached 39.1ºC in Formentera on July 12 (record for a month of July) and 38.5ºC in Sant Joan on July 18. The highest minimum temperatures were: at the airport 27ºC on August 1st and 26.8ºC in Formentera on July 23rd.
During the summer the number of tropical nights has increased by 27% at Ibiza airport and 10% in Formentera. At the airport there have been 71 torrid nights, being 56 the normal. This is the second highest value since 1953. The number of torrid nights has also tripled, there were 10, being 3 the normal value. In Formentera, 71 tropical nights were recorded, 64 being the normal, of which 13 were torrid, 4 being the normal value, i.e. the number of torrid nights has tripled.
It has rained 200% above normal values (i.e., three times the normal value). If the average rainfall is 31 l/m², during this season it rained 91. June was dry, July was normal and August was extremely rainy. In the Pitiüsas, the most notable amounts of rainfall in the quarter were recorded on August 3 with 72.3 l/m² at Ibiza Airport, 50 in Ibiza and 30 in Formentera, and on August 27 with 65.4 l/m² in Sant Joan de Labritja, the latter value being a 24-hour record since records began in 1995. The maximum wind gusts were recorded on August 27 associated with storms, and were 72 km / h from the west in Sant Antoni de Portmany and 51 km / h from the north in Formentera. The summer has been slightly windy, at Ibiza airport there have been 4 days of strong wind, one more than normal. There were 4 days when precipitation was accompanied by mud, 3 being the normal value. September so far has been very warm, with anomalies of 1.6ºC in Ibiza and 1.5ºC in Formentera, above normal values. Ibiza is being dry with the exception of Sant Vicent where 54.4 l/m² fell on the 13th. In Formentera practically normal as far as rainfall is concerned. The number of tropical nights is normal, there have been 15 and the usual are 14. However, the number of torrid nights stands out, which have been 2, and there are usually none.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.