Less snow and more heat: this is the area of the Pyrenees that suffers the most from warming
The accelerated melting has favored a clear rise in temperatures in recent years
BarcelonaThe rise in temperatures in Catalonia has been unstoppable for some years, but there are areas where the effects of warming are especially significant. This is the case for the mid-altitudes of the Pyrenees. In this area located between 1,500 and 2,200 meters above sea level, the maximum temperature has risen by 1.8 ºC in just the last 24 years. A thermal increase that is even more notable regarding minimum temperatures, where the increase has been 2.1 ºC in the same period of time.
These extraordinary data are the preliminary results of a study by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (Meteocat) presented at technical workshops of the European project Life Pyrenees4Clima held in the Vall de Núria, in the Ripollès region, regarding adaptation and mitigation of climate change in the Pyrenees.
The study has analyzed all altitudes of the Pyrenees and it is precisely the intermediate strip of the mountain range that has experienced the most abrupt rise in temperature in recent years. Specifically, the average increase in maximum temperature is 0.77 ºC per decade, and 0.86 ºC per decade for the minimum temperature. Winter stands out, the season of the year that registers the most significant increases, with a rise of 2.9 ºC in the maximum temperature and 3.1 ºC in the minimum during the last 24 years.
According to the researchers, this significant rise in temperature could be related to the rapid loss of snow cover. “The fact that a higher temperature increase is detected in the intermediate zone points to an influence of the snow, since it is in this altitudinal interval where the retreat of the snow cover is most evident,” explains Pere Esteban, a technician at Meteocat, in a statement.
To obtain these results, Meteocat has analyzed the daily data from the meteorological stations in the area between 2002 and 2025 and has installed a new station in Bonabé, at an altitude of 1,700 meters. The project also includes temperature and humidity sensors installed every 200 meters of altitude between 1,500 and 3,000 meters at two points in the Pyrenees: the Bonabé-Moredo section, in the Catalan Pyrenees, and Panticosa-Infiernos, in the Aragonese Pyrenees. In this case, it has been handled by the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC), also a member of the Life Pyrenees4Clima project.
Three fewer days of frost per decade
During the conference, Meteocat also presented the main annual data from the Pyrenees Climate Change Indicator Bulletin (BICCPIR), which indicate that the Pyrenees lose three frost days per decade and gain 4.9 summer days, with maximum temperatures above 25 ºC. Since 1959, this translates into 20 fewer frost days and 32 more summer days. The data correspond to the 1959-2024 period and use the 1961-1990 period as a reference, except in studies on snow.
The European project Life Pyrenees4Clima has 46 partners coordinated by the Pyrenean Climate Change Observatory (OPCC), which are part of seven territories in Spain, France, and Andorra; specifically, the Basque Country, Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia, New Aquitaine, Occitanie, and the principality of Andorra. In Catalonia, the Catalan Climate Change Office coordinates eight pilot experiences to adapt mountain areas to the effects of climate change, reduce natural risks, and improve knowledge about their impacts.
