The weather continues to be unsettled, and a polar front will arrive this Friday, accentuating instability and causing temperatures to bottom out, with a very cool environment, more typical of early spring than mid-May. Thermometers will be between 3 and 8 degrees below the average for the season, with the vast majority of highs below 20 ºC. A drop that will contrast with the 25 ºC reached today on the Barcelona coast and the Costa Dorada due to the re-heated mistral and westerly wind. A late snowfall will also occur in the Pyrenees, with a snowline that will drop below 1,500 m.

In an effort to put names to things, some Barcelona fans have dubbed the season the "Clàssic League," for having won it just against Real Madrid. Others have simply called it Flick's second league. Some wanted to name it by reaching 100 points, but it won't be possible because the team won't reach that figure after the defeat at Alabès' ground (1-0) when there was nothing more at stake than honor. But the title, achieved three matchdays before the end, could be called the "Catalans' League." And it's because it had been half a century since there was a Barça with such participation of players born in Catalonia: almost half of the available minutes.

A few days ago, the 53rd Feria de Abril de Catalunya, organized by FECAC (Federació d'Entitats Culturals Andaluses en Catalunya), was inaugurated. And following this celebration, Catalan political scientist Arantxa Tirado was the subject of an online diatribe for having said that she had seen the “real Catalonia” there. She herself clarified the interpretations of her comment, and since I don't know the extent of the dialectical turmoil, I won't go down that path. I only cite it to do justice to the origin of the idea of writing the lines that follow.

We are already halfway through May, but the atmosphere on Thursday and especially on Friday will be more typical of early spring than of these dates. We continue immersed in a corridor of polar north winds that, in addition to bringing freshness, maintains pronounced instability. On Thursday, rain is expected in the northeast and the Pyrenees, and on Friday a new front will bring more showers and storms and cause temperatures to hit rock bottom, with values between 3 and 8 degrees below average. Too much coolness for the time of year, which will persist over the weekend, although with fewer showers. However, next week thermometers will start to rise again. All this after the showers were more local and concentrated in the northeast and the Pyrenees this Wednesday, with 7 l/m² falling in the city of Girona and 3 in Vall d'en Bas (Garrotxa) standing out. In any case, nothing to do with the strong storms, hailstorms and hail from Tuesday in many regions (you will find the most outstanding data and images from Tuesday's episode at the end of this information).

Instability flared up again yesterday, with a new round of showers and strong, irregular afternoon storms in many areas. In some cases, there were real downpours accompanied by hail or small hailstones (you will find the most notable images and data from this episode at the end of this information). The weather will remain unsettled in the coming days. Both Wednesday and Thursday will see a lot of cloudiness in the northeast and on the north face of the Pyrenees, with showers falling in these areas. On the other hand, there will be more sun in the south and in the west, where the mistral wind will be blowing. What we will notice most in the coming days will be the drop in temperatures. A clear cooling that will bottom out between Friday and the weekend, with values clearly below average and more typical of late March or early April than mid-May. The snowline may drop to 1,500 m or below from Friday in the Pyrenees. All of this will be the result of the anticyclonic block in the Atlantic area, which will facilitate the arrival of low-pressure systems and cold air of polar origin to Central Europe and our Mediterranean region.

The philosophers Jordi Corominas and Joan Albert Vicens call to combat the rise of the radical right with their essay Extrema dreta. Què ens hi juguem? (Eumo), where they provide arguments to debate ultra positions.

Today instability will clearly increase again. The low pressure system from the western Iberian Peninsula will send us a new unstable line that, along with cold air at high altitudes, will cause a new series of irregular showers and storms that could occur in practically any location during the afternoon – also on the coast –, locally with intensity and hail. Civil Protection has activated the Inuncat plan alert for this episode. And in the coming days, showers will be repeated in various regions, especially in the northeast and the Pyrenees. Temperatures will begin to drop, and by mid-week the cooling will be noticeable, with values below what would be expected for this time of year. All this after yesterday the week started with much calm and sun in most regions, with only afternoon showers concentrated in the Pyrenees and in the north of the Girona regions. Maximum temperatures peaked and ranged between 22 and 27 ºC in most cases.

We leave behind a weekend of very different weather, with a rainy Saturday afternoon in many places and a sunny Sunday, at least during the first half of the day. During the afternoon, cloudiness will progressively increase and from sunset onwards, showers will fall in the western half and in other nearby regions, not reaching the eastern half of the country. All this on the eve of a week that will begin gently, but which will set us back a few weeks in terms of temperature.

Do you hear it? Yes, in the coming years one of the noisiest changes will be phonetic. We will go from animal farms with the traditional: oink, oink; cock-a-doodle-doo; moooo; baaaa... to farms of people and their newly installed bellows, screams, groans: "Good morning", "Good night", "Who the hell has the remote?", "I don't know why the hell I married you!", "Make that kid shut up already!" This is what can be achieved with this Catalan law that will allow farms and warehouses to be converted into housing for other animals.

A few years ago, the government of the Generalitat established a commission of experts, a kind of board of wise men, to determine which sectors Catalonia should focus on for sustained growth. One of the conclusions was obvious: tourism. It was a time when there was great interest in promoting the aeronautical industry, with little presence in Catalonia. It was not achieved. In fact, land that had been reserved to create a kind of park dedicated to this activity is currently occupied by a large outlet in the municipality of Viladecans. On the other hand, over time, an ecosystem of start-ups emerged, making Barcelona and Catalonia an international benchmark.

The arms and defense industry is almost nonexistent in Catalonia. The Principality has never strived to play a relevant role in the large contracts of the Ministry of Defense, and the ministry has not been concerned with it being so. The reason: Catalonia has always been a hostile territory for this type of industry, and society has shown its opposition to this sector. No major manufacturer of military equipment has settled there, although some companies have been – and are – linked to it as suppliers.This does not mean, however, that anyone has been interested in growing this sector. “It is an unsatisfied desire”, summarized the researcher from the Delàs Centre Pere Ortega in a report in 2013. Ortega thus referred to the ambition of some companies and politicians to develop this industrial fabric already at that time. Today, more than a decade after the researcher's reflection, and in full European and Spanish rearmament, that desire is more alive than ever and satisfying it does not seem a chimera for those who pursue it: has it gone from taboo to idyll? The cornerstone is the current defense investment cycle: in 2025 alone, the State has mobilized at least 33 billion euros – a Sipri report places the figure at 40.2 billion– to reach 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in defense, and the European Union has also opened the tap through special programs. This contrasts with the spending that has been allocated to the sector in recent years: “We are coming from a drought period,” says a senior executive from a defense company. Furthermore, this is a boom that will not end tomorrow: a voice that has been working in the sector for years estimates that it will last 48 months: “A year has passed and there are three more months of spending growth left.” For this reason, large companies (Indra, Navantia, Airbus, Escribano, or Santa Bárbara) plan to double their turnover by 2030, according to a report by the consulting firm EY published this week.

The weekend began with weather more typical of the British Isles than of our home, with the passage of a front associated with an Atlantic low pressure system located in the western peninsula that left rain in many regions during the second half of Saturday, but this situation has changed radically. This Sunday calm and sun will once again dominate and only a few afternoon showers will fall towards the western half. The temperature will begin to rise from then on.

The day after the Andalusian elections on May 17, the "process of fiscal cession and privileges to Catalan separatism will be restarted". This is the thesis of Juanma Moreno, the PP candidate, presented during the first week of the electoral campaign in Andalusia. And this, as this newspaper published less than a month ago, the new Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, has even closed the door to the total collection of personal income tax. Nevertheless, this argument serves Moreno to argue that a "strong" and "stable" government is needed to "confront this injustice". Vox also resorts to Catalonia, using the old argument of comparative grievance between Catalans and Andalusians against the PSOE candidate, María Jesús Montero, España's predecessor at the head of the Spanish Treasury. In fact, the hypothesis that the right-wing parties fuel is that the PSOE is temporarily deceiving Andalusians so as not to harm Montero in the electoral race. They also reproach him for the new regional financing model agreed with ERC, which they claim harms Andalusia, even though it would add almost 5,000 million euros annually, when Moreno was asking for 4,000, at least until the end of last year.

A weekend begins that will have two different faces in terms of weather. We will start it with the passage of a front associated with an Atlantic low located in the west of the peninsula, which will cause a rather gray day and a general ration of rain that will sweep the entire country from south to north, especially from the afternoon onwards, although during the early morning we have already had local showers in some places. Large quantities are not expected, although some locally intense storm is not ruled out, especially in the Terres de l'Ebre. An umbrella is essential on Saturday, but, on the other hand, on Sunday calm and sun will once again dominate, with only some afternoon showers in the west. Temperatures will begin to rise from then on.

The indignant Catalanism is the political virus that besieges us. The perception of the language's decline, that is to say, identity fear, is taking hold of the autochthonous population. Angry Catalan has returned. The independence defeat has made it more bitter because there is no horizon. The reality is harsh: housing crisis, educational crisis, strained healthcare, permanently failing rail transport... If we add to this the weakness in the social use of Catalan, which is perfectly real, we have the explosive cocktail. It is easy to excite the feeling of impotence. It costs little to launch apocalyptic messages with enemies who cannot defend themselves: immigration.

They did not know it yet, but the 1936 elections would be the last before the outbreak of the Civil War, five months after the elections. The left-wing parties, united through the Popular Front, which included, among many other parties, the PSOE, the Communist Party, and ERC, obtained victory. But the government of the Second Republic never published those results in full, and until now they were not accessible. This is changing thanks to the project that three Catalan researchers published yesterday after six years of research. Now, anyone interested will be able to know how their town voted in those elections, which even today some historians question to justify General Franco's coup d'état.

These last hours of Thursday have seen some very localized and irregular showers and storms again, especially in certain parts of the pre-coastal areas, the interior, and the Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees. Highlights include the 23 l/m² accumulated in Ports or the 13 in Alinyà (Alt Urgell). But above all, there have been more intense and extensive storms all day in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Country, with local accumulations of more than 70 or 80 l/m² in the Ribera Alta or Marina Alta. And the instability will continue in the coming days. Friday will be a variable day with the risk of new, minor afternoon showers. But all eyes are on Saturday, as an Atlantic low-pressure system will send us a front that could cause a spell of rain that would sweep across all regions from south to north. Nevertheless, the weekend would end with much more calm and a rise in temperatures.

When they built the jetty, the bay became a lagoon. This morning, the clouds form a roof over it. As a child, for me the tip of the pier represented a mysterious boundary that I could see from home. It was adult territory. There is a photograph of a septuagenarian Gaziel sitting on the jetty, with his cane beside him. At the tip of the pier there is a modest lighthouse, like a white match with a green tip. It has large black numbers painted on it which are the geographical coordinates, 41º46.5’ N and 3º1.9’ E.

The changing and completely spring-like weather we have been having in recent days will continue for the rest of the week, albeit with nuances. Today, instability will decrease temporarily, with more localized afternoon showers in parts of the Pyrenees, the northeast, and the Ports area, with more sun and calm in the rest. But from Thursday onwards, showers and thunderstorms will gain ground again, and meteorological activity will increase towards the weekend. As for temperatures, they will remain well under control.