Rain has been scarce to see in recent months, but this afternoon showers and storms have arrived in the Terres de l'Ebre, which have quickly spread to more areas of the coast and pre-coast. Notable are the 12 l/m² fallen in Falset (Priorat) or the 11 in Benissanet (Ribera d'Ebre). Small exceptions that should not be repeated in the coming days outside the Pyrenees, but in some cases the storms have been accompanied by strong gusts of wind, a result of so much accumulated heat. This is the case of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where gusts close to 120 km/h have been recorded and a possible downburst may have occurred. A sudden and very strong wind that has caused trees to fall and various damages.

Between January and June of this year, Barcelona has been the scene of 74,350 crimes and 17,359 arrests. This is 11.2% fewer crimes and a 6.7% reduction in arrests compared to the same dates last year. Therefore, crimes are generally decreasing and are sinking to the level of a decade ago, but nevertheless, the data from the latest barometer place crime as the second concern for Barcelona residents, only behind housing. This is the main conclusion of the latest Barcelona Security Board, which this morning made public the data on conflict in the Catalan capital.

When she learned she was on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, Clarisney Camacaro's joy at the news was mixed with worry about what she would do with her daughter Valeria while she had to be hospitalized. As a single mother with no nearby relatives to help her, her options were limited. Until someone at work told her about the Barcelona City Council's Collaborating Families Service, a municipal program with over four decades of history in which volunteer families offer to lend a hand with the logistics of people in the same situation as Clarisney and Valeria. The network for those who have no network.

The weekend has been marked by the same meteorological trend that has accompanied us for the last month, with intense heat and practically no rainfall anywhere. The temperature did not reach 40 °C, but it approached 38 °C or 39 °C in parts of the Ponent region and the interior of the Ebro valley, while on the coast the mugginess was very pronounced. All this in anticipation of a new thermal rise during the first days of this new week, although with hope placed on a possible progressive normalization of thermometers from Thursday or Friday onwards.

The weekend has started with a meteorological tone practically identical to the rest of the week, with very high temperatures that on Saturday again approached 39 °C in Ponent and exceeded 35 °C in practically any point of the interior. An intense and long-lasting heat that will continue also for Sunday and early next week, with maximums that will again seek the 40 °C mark and generalized tropical or torrid minimums.

It was the late 18th century and the English chemist Joseph Priestley made a discovery that revolutionized medicine. Specifically, he thought of a way to feel it less: he discovered a new gas, nitrous oxide, which had analgesic properties and could relieve pain. It was one of the first gases used to anesthetize a patient before surgery. In fact, it is still used in childbirth today. However, without knowing it, Priestley also revolutionized the parties of the time: the elites began to try nitrous oxide and discovered that, besides being a good analgesic, in small quantities it produced a feeling of euphoria. It became a fashion at high society parties. The laughing gas had just been born.

This Friday, temperatures once again exceeded 38°C or 39°C in the northeast and south interior of the country, as well as in the Pla de Bages. And this intense heat and stuffiness of the last few hours will continue throughout the weekend. The atmosphere will be one of full heatwave, and the temperature will still be between three and five degrees above the climatic average. Therefore, it will be necessary to keep sweating hard, although without reaching great extremes. Nights will remain sleepless, especially on the coast, pre-coast, south, and west, with a heavy feeling near the sea due to the high humidity. All this with absolute calm, general sunshine, and few nuances, and there will still be African dust in suspension.

The return home of the neighbors of the Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova neighborhood affected by the sinkhole from the L9 works will begin gradually on Monday, but will still last a few weeks. This Friday was the scheduled date for the first residents to be able to return to their apartments after ten days. In statements to journalists, the director general of Infrastructures of the Generalitat, Ramon Ramírez, explained that the inhabitants of two blocks on Sant Gervasi de Cassoles street – numbers 56 and 58 – will be able to start returning home on Monday, and that for the remaining six blocks, it is expected that they will be able to do so during the "coming weeks".

The atmosphere has continued to be very warm and muggy these past few hours. Yesterday was a very heavy day, and tonight it has once again been warm and sleepless in several counties. Despite this oppressive atmosphere, yesterday the extremes of Wednesday were no longer reached, as temperatures dropped and 40 ºC were no longer recorded anywhere. The problem is that the high humidity makes the thermal sensation very pronounced, especially along the coast and pre-coast. Intervals of clouds and drizzles accompanied by mud contributed yesterday to increasing the feeling of mugginess, and only in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees did showers and thunderstorms fall with more force and eyes.

We wake up after a night that has been restless and very warm in general. Widespread tropical minimums have been recorded, but also many torrid ones on the coast, in the south, and in Ponent, with marked – and in some cases unbearable – sultriness on the coast and pre-coast. However, from today onwards, thermometers will start to drop, and the heat will become less extreme, with variable or partly cloudy skies and the risk of showers accompanied by mud in some regions. Despite everything, the very warm atmosphere, intense sultriness on the coast and pre-coast, and values above the climatic average will continue. No significant drop in mercury or a clearer unstable situation is expected for at least another seven to ten days.

One year after the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, closed one of his most difficult weeks with a defeat in the plenary that left the agents of the Guardia Urbana without electric stun guns, the City Council is heading to overturn that decision. The commission for presidency, security, and internal affairs has initially approved, with the votes in favor of the PSC, Junts, and the PP, the contrary vote of Barcelona en Comú and ERC, and the abstention of Vox, the regulation that governs the provision and use of stun guns for the local police of the Catalan capital.

This week's episode of intense heat and mugginess will experience a sudden peak this Wednesday. The night has been generally tropical, and scorching in spots along the coast, the south, and at high elevations of the pre-coastal area. And today, the strengthening of the re-heated wind between southwest and west will suddenly send temperatures soaring in many regions, especially along the coast, the pre-coastal area, the Ebro region, and Central Catalonia. Extreme wind and heat that will increase the risk of fire and poor conditions in the forests. It will be a scorching day, with highs reaching or exceeding 40 ºC in many areas of the pre-coastal region, Central Catalonia, Ponent, and the Ebro valley, as well as 35 ºC on the coast. Meteocat has activated the alert for intense heat throughout the country, with a red warning – the highest possible – for the Barcelona pre-coastal area.

A week after the incident, residents of the 93 apartments in the Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova neighborhood remain evacuated and will not be able to return to their homes until at least Friday. The Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, has not ruled out compensation for residents and merchants affected by the sinkhole caused by the works on line L9 of the metro in Barcelona. In an interview on "Els matins" on TV3, the minister stated that they will do "whatever it takes," after being asked about possible compensation. "It is clear that the residents have no responsibility in this," she said.

The team formed by BAAS architecture and h3o architects has won the competition convened by BIMSA for the rehabilitation of the Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu de Barcelona complex. The project includes the rehabilitation and expansion of the spaces of the Biblioteca de Catalunya and the future District Library, as well as the rehabilitation of the theater, the chapel, the Icub offices, and various common spaces. The approximate budget for the work is 29.6 million euros.

The extreme heat has given a little respite this weekend, with very high values, but without the records of a few days ago. Throughout the week, temperatures will rise and the peak of the new episode of extreme heat will arrive, which will be even more intense than the previous ones. However, the presence of thin clouds or suspended dust can dampen the radiation and prevent the thermometer from soaring so much in the end. We are fully at the gates of what will be the third heatwave of the summer, when we will not have even recovered from the second one. Its peak will arrive between Wednesday and Friday. The stuffiness will make it impossible to rest on the coast, with torrid nights. In Ponent or Ebre, thermometers could reach or exceed 42°C maximum in the middle of the week.

With less than a year to go until the municipal elections, the Barcelona City Council's barometer has provided an approximate snapshot this Friday of where the electoral race stands right now. According to the survey, the elections in the Catalan capital would be a duel between the current mayor, Jaume Collboni, and the leader of Esquerra Republicana in the council, Elisenda Alamany. Although the socialists appear as the preferred option of those surveyed with 13% – almost a point more than six months ago –, the republicans are soaring compared to the last wave of the barometer and stand at 11.1%.

48 hours after the sinkhole that the L9 works opened in the Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova neighborhood, it remains an unknown what exactly happened for the ground to suddenly open up. While fire department teams inspect one by one the 93 affected apartments to check for new movements, the causes of the incident that has forced at least eight blocks to be evacuated until Saturday are also being investigated. Among experts, there is also debate about how it could have happened. And they point to a main hypothesis: that, due to some incident, the tunnel boring machine has generated what is known as a chimney.