The first heat wave of this summer will affect from next Saturday almost the entire Peninsula, with greater intensity in the northeast, center and south of the peninsula, according to a special warning issued by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).
For the moment, Ibiza and Formentera remain on the sidelines, but will continue with very warm temperatures for the time of year.
The anomalies in the temperatures of these days will be three to five degrees above the normal average at this time of the year. The Balearic Sea is several degrees above average and that will also be noticed in the minimum temperatures, highlights the Aemet.
For the weekend, the Aemet forecasts minimums of 24 degrees and maximums of up to 33 degrees with clear skies in the Pitiusas.
This Thursday 34.8 degrees were recorded in the city of Ibiza. The maximum temperature in Sant Antoni was 33 degrees and in the rest of the Pitiusas, 32 degrees.
This situation is the result of atmospheric stability conditions in much of the country along with the arrival of a very warm air mass from low latitudes.
Although the rise of the values will occur gradually, from Saturday will be especially accentuated in the Guadalquivir valley, Ebro and southern plateau, with peak temperatures of 40 degrees or even 42 degrees.
Despite the fact that temperatures have been above normal for this time of the year throughout the month of June, until now it was not considered a heat wave, since the conditions were not met to talk about an episode like that of soaring thermometers.
what value should the temperature reach, do the affected geographical areas matter, how many days should it be maintained? These are some of the questions that the State Meteorological Agency evaluates before handling this term.
In its statement, the Aemet details that after the drop in temperatures recorded with the withdrawal of the thermal ridge to the east, a large anticyclone will intensify in medium and high levels from the interior of the African continent and will extend to cover the peninsula from Friday.
Tourists in Ibiza / Marcelo Sastre
The Agency also anticipates that it is expected to “induce a southerly flow that will introduce over the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands a very warm and relatively dry air mass, which together with the high insolation will lead to a progressive thermal rise in the coming days”.
Therefore, the Aemet considers that this phenomenon will be noticed already from Thursday, except in the eastern third of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, and will be generalized to the whole territory during Friday and Saturday.
As a result -says the note of the Aemet- thermal values are expected higher than usual at this time, except in the northwest quadrant and Cantabrian area, where there will be an Atlantic flow, cooler.
Most affected areas
The national agency points out that the most affected areas will be the southern half, especially the southwest quadrant, as well as the depressions of the northeastern peninsular, where it is expected that from Saturday the 38ºC will be exceeded in a fairly generalized way and may reach 40 and 42ºC in the valleys of the Guadiana, the Ebro and the Guadalquivir.
Aemet warns at the same time that the “peak days” of the heat wave will be on Sunday and Monday, when the values above 40 º C will extend to the valley of the Tagus, and it is very likely that 42ºC will be exceeded in the Guadalquivir area.
Minimum temperatures will be high in the next few days, with temperatures not expected to drop below 23 and 25ºC in large areas of the southern half and the Ebro valley throughout the forecast period.
The warning also contemplates that “the irruption of this air mass from North Africa will be accompanied by suspended dust from Sunday afternoon” and adds that the haze could be accompanied by some medium and high cloudiness, which adds some uncertainty to the forecast of maximum temperatures during the episode.
On the other hand, the Aemet predicts that a thermal decline will begin in the west from Wednesday, which will extend to Thursday in a more pronounced way to the northern half of the peninsula although it is likely that during these days the episode of abnormally high temperatures in the southwest quadrant, exceeding 38 to 40 degrees will be prolonged.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.