Temperatures continue to rise relentlessly and this Wednesday, 30 °C has already been surpassed in more areas of Ponent and the interior of the Ebro. Thermometers that will climb even higher on Thursday and will peak between Friday and the weekend, with values between 5 and 10 degrees above the average for the season in many cases. A full summer atmosphere awaits us, with very advanced heat, which in recent years is beginning to be common. Many highs are expected between 27 and 33 °C in the pre-coastal areas and inland, especially from Friday onwards, but up to 35 °C or locally more in Ponent and the Ebro valley. We will have to sweat profusely and suddenly retrieve all the summer clothes from the back of the closet. The mercury will be more restrained on the coast due to the effect of a still cold sea. A mass of warm air will combine with the anticyclone, with calm and sun in general.

The immersive exhibition created with more than 600,000 recyclable balloons will transform, starting this Thursday, the Inmersa space, located in the Poblenou neighborhood, into a large-scale visual and sensory universe. The experience promises to surprise visitors with a journey full of color, light, movement, and scenographies that turn ephemeral art into a different cultural proposal.

Halt to the expansion of 24-hour supermarkets in the city of Barcelona. This Wednesday morning, the municipal government of Jaume Collboni has announced that it is temporarily suspending the granting of new licenses to self-service and super-service establishments that can open 24 hours. The suspension is effective immediately, as it was published this morning in the Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona (BOPB), and will be valid for one year. During this time, the council assures that it wants to work on new planning "that allows for the protection of local commerce, the preservation of commercial diversity, and the avoidance of saturation and monoculture processes in certain areas of the city", as stated in a press release.

Josep Rius renounces the race for the mayoralty of Barcelona in 2027. The Junts spokesperson communicated, this Monday in an open letter to the Junts militants, that despite having considered "very seriously" leading the project, Jordi Martí's candidacy has changed the landscape. Rius prefers to step aside before fueling a confrontation that, according to him, would not strengthen the party:

A small cold air trough at high altitude will finish crossing our latitudes during the early hours and morning of this Monday, with instability and new irregular showers and storms in various regions. During the morning, downpours will fall in parts of the northern third and the coast and pre-coast, which will extend to more areas in the afternoon. Thunderstorms have occurred in recent hours, especially in the Pyrenees, Pre-Pyrenees, and northeast regions, with more abundant amounts in Berguedà, northern Osona, or Ripollès, where 10 to 20 l/m² have accumulated in a few minutes. Highlights include the 32 l/m² that fell yesterday in Orís, 28 in Montesquiu, or 22 in Cantonigròs. But this instability will not have much continuity, as throughout the week anticyclonic calm and sun will gradually impose themselves, with increasing heat after the significant cooling of recent days.

The visit of Pope Leo XIV to Catalonia is the prelude to the changes of bishops in the Principality. Barcelona is the most important, but Tarrasa also needs to be renewed and, in the rest of the Catalan Countries, Mallorca. Juan José Omella, from Aragon in the Franja, landed in November 2015 at the archbishopric of Barcelona with the mitre he had from Calahorra. At 80 years old, five years past the normal age for the position, he will cease to be archbishop and the succession will be finalized this summer, after the pontiff's visit. Here comes Operation Barcelona: who are the best-positioned names? What role will Omella and the Pope play?

The passage of a new cold air furrow at high altitude will destabilize the weather this Sunday. Showers and storms will increase, with an afternoon that is expected to be unsettled, especially to the north of the territory and in Central Catalonia. The last polar front has caused a significant cool-down, with an atmosphere more typical of March than of May. Snow has fallen in the Pyrenees below 1,400 m and has left wintery, postcard-like landscapes at medium and high altitudes.

I'm writing this column while listening to a hellish noise. In my building, two renovations are happening at the same time, one on the first floor and the other on the third. I live on the second. I work while imagining I'm the filling in a construction sandwich, and indeed, the din often forces me to hang out in bars or libraries. Today, however, I'm staying home, because the noise of drills and hammers, or the shrill whistle of the bricklayer who comes and goes from the building and sings dubious tunes on the stairs, is most suitable for the book I've been reading for a few days: Un metro cuadrado, by Llucia Ramis (Anagrama, 2026).

Francesc Magrinyà (Barcelona, 1963) is a civil engineer and the country's leading expert on Ildefons Cerdà. A figure about whom, he says, an incomplete narrative has been imposed for years. To try to turn it around and coinciding with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his death, he has just published the book "Teoría Cerdà (Polytechnic University of Catalonia), a monumental work that brings closer the work, but also the thought, the environment, and the history of the creator of the Eixample. Magrinyà is also the curator of an exhibition about Cerdà that will be shown soon in Centelles, Barcelona, and Madrid.

The passage of a polar front has caused a significant cooling, with an atmosphere more typical of March than May. Temperatures have been between 3 and 8 degrees below the average for the season, and snow has fallen in the Pyrenees below 1,400 m, leaving wintery, postcard-like landscapes at medium and high altitudes. In Montseny, snow was also anecdotally observed at the highest elevations. Yesterday, showers and storms intensified in the afternoon in the center and north of the country. Locally they were strong and accompanied by hail, short-lived, and accumulated little water: most left between 2 and 8 l/m². Even so, in some cases these figures were exceeded: 18 l/m² at Lac Redon (2,245 m, Vall d'Aran) or 12 at Santa Coloma de Farners (Selva) stand out.

Jaume Collboni has saved this Friday one of the last hot potatoes he had on his table this term. Junts per Barcelona has announced its favorable vote for the new Ciutat Vella usage plan, the mechanism with which the City Council can influence the commercial fabric of the district. A document that had caused a stir among neighborhood associations and left-wing groups in the council – they consider that it consolidates the tourist monoculture of the area – and that the district councilor, Albert Batlle, has defended once the necessary support has been secured to move it forward.

The choice of Junts' candidate for Barcelona City Council is not only unresolved, but also complicated. As ARA has learned, the party's spokesperson in the consistory, Jordi Martí, has informed the leadership of his decision to run in a potential primary and fight for the position. An intention that clashes with Junts' leadership's desire to appoint a candidate without an internal dispute. In fact, after receiving a 'no' from independents such as businessman Tatxo Benet or former president Artur Mas and ex-councillor Joaquim Forn, the leadership's most likely option was the spokesperson, Josep Rius. Carles Puigdemont's right-hand man since he was president of the Generalitat.

Ten months after reaching an agreement to reduce cruise terminals, the Port and the Barcelona City Council once again have an open melon on the table. It was placed this Wednesday by the mayor, Jaume Collboni, when he defended in an interview with Betevé that he aspired for scale cruises – those that only spend a few hours in the city – to disappear completely in the coming years. This Thursday, from the Port, they have responded to the mayor, defending the importance of this type of vessel and emphasizing that eliminating them will not solve the problem of tourist overcrowding in the Catalan capital.

The weather continues to be unsettled, and this Friday a polar front will arrive, which will accentuate instability and cause temperatures to hit rock bottom, with a very cool atmosphere, 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 maximums 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 reheated wind from between mistral and west. There will also be a late snowfall in the Pyrenees, with a snowline that will drop below 1,500 m.

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).

Residents of Ciutat Vella have spoken out this Tuesday against the project for a new usage plan for the district that Jaume Collboni's government wants to finally approve this month. The Federation of Residents' Associations of Barcelona (FAVB), the Confederation of Residents' Associations of Catalonia (Confavc), the Raval Residents' Network, the Gothic Quarter Residents' Association, the Old Town Residents' Association, and the Òstia Residents' Association have denounced that the project favors tourism over the neighborhood's residents. They have given as an example that the new project would allow the opening of up to seven new discotheques in Ciutat Vella.

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.