Two more days of intense heat, but on Sunday the thermometers will ease and the heatwave will end

The fourth heat wave, which began on Wednesday, will continue this Friday and also on Saturday, but the cooling expected for Sunday will be greater than initially forecast, so the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has brought forward the end of the episode by one day. Thus, both Sunday, already outside the heat wave, and Monday, “temperatures will drop and, although they will still be high, they will be closer to the normal average values for these dates,” explains Rubén del Campo, Aemet spokesperson, in an audio sent to the media.

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However, during all these days “the extreme fire danger will continue in large areas of the country, so precautions must be taken.” There will also be haze in the eastern peninsula and in the archipelagos. The rains “will not be very abundant and will be limited to the Cantabrian region,” and “storms will also form in the Pyrenees and in areas of the eastern interior peninsula, which may be locally strong and accompanied by hail and intense wind gusts.” From Tuesday onwards, temperatures are likely to rise again. In the Canary Islands, Aemet expects intense heat “at least until next Tuesday.”

Day by day, in Thursday’s report it should be noted that temperatures exceeded 42° in points of Córdoba, Granada, Zaragoza, Navarra, and Barcelona. In the latter province, Sant Julià de Vilatorta reached 42.6°. In the Canary Islands, the village of San Nicolás, on the island of Gran Canaria, marked 40.6° on a very tough day in the archipelago. Last night, some points on the island of Gran Canaria did not drop below 29° or 30°, which is already called a hellish night.

This Friday, according to Del Campo’s forecast, temperatures will fall in the north and center of the Peninsula, a drop that will be marked in the eastern Cantabrian and upper Ebro. They will rise, however, in western Galicia and southern Andalusia. “Temperatures will exceed 38° to 40° in the northeast, center, and south of the peninsula, and in points of the Guadalquivir Valley they may even exceed 42°,” the expert specifies, adding that there will be light rain in the Cantabrian region and storms in the eastern interior peninsula, which will be locally strong in the Pyrenees, Iberian System, and surrounding areas.

The warning map shows 10 communities. The warning is orange or significant risk, the second level of a three-level scale, in five of them: Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, and Valencian Community. On the other hand, it drops to yellow, the lowest level, in the Balearic Islands, Castile and León, Extremadura, Community of Madrid, and Region of Murcia. Additionally, there is yellow for storms in Aragon and Catalonia.

On Saturday, temperatures will rise in the Cantabrian region and western Peninsula, while, on the contrary, it will cool down in the Mediterranean. “The night will be very warm anyway in the Mediterranean area and also in the interior of Andalusia, where in some points it will not drop below 25°,” that is, torrid or equatorial nights.

During the day, “intense widespread heat is expected again with more than 36° to 38° in large areas and more than 42° generally in the Guadalquivir valley.” And, again, there will be rain in the Cantabrian region and the possibility of strong storms in mountainous and adjacent areas of the eastern peninsula that may bring hail and intense wind.

Regarding the warnings, they remain in the same 10 communities, but improvement is noticeable. There is only one orange, in Andalusia, while it is yellow in Aragon, Balearic Islands, Castile and León, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, and Valencian Community.

During Sunday and Monday, the approach of a trough ―a kind of tongue of cold air in the upper layers of the troposphere― from the west will bring a change of air mass, which will cause temperatures to drop generally on both days, so the heat wave criteria will no longer be met.

However, on Sunday “thermometers will rise again in the Cantabrian region, Ebro valley, and Mediterranean area,” with highs of 36° to 38° in large areas of the east, center, and south of the peninsula and in Mallorca. Thus, yellow warnings will remain in Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, and Murcia.

On Monday, highs will remain between 30° and 34° in most of the Peninsula, values that, Del Campo specifies, “are generally normal for this time of year, except in the northeast, the eastern third of the peninsula, and Mallorca, where 36° to 38° may still be exceeded.”

These two days “there will generally be no significant precipitation,” although there could be some storms in mountainous areas on Sunday and rain in Galicia, Cantabrian communities, and the Pyrenees on Monday.

On Tuesday, initially and according to what models indicate today, “it would be a day without major changes, with heat typical of the season, but generally without extremes, although in points of the Ebro, southeast, and Mallorca 36° to 38° will be exceeded.” Also, there will be light rain in the far north of the peninsula and, in the following days, temperatures could rise again.

In the Canary Islands, intense and widespread heat until Tuesday. “Temperatures will exceed 34° to 36° in large areas and 40° in points of Gran Canaria,” predicts the meteorologist, who emphasizes that “nights will be very warm and it is not unlikely that, as last night, in points of Gran Canaria it will not drop below 30°.”

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