Extraordinarily long heatwave: it will not end until next week

BarcelonaThe second heatwave of the summer is already here: thermometers have shot up and have already reached or exceeded 40°C in several inland areas. In some places, Monday was the hottest day since the beginning of summer. An episode of extreme heat that will experience a peak between Wednesday and Thursday in most of the country. But, even though the mercury will drop a little towards the weekend, there is no clear end in sight for this heatwave, which is expected to be extraordinarily long and not end until next week.

This was confirmed this Tuesday by the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (Meteocat), which until now predicted that the heatwave would last at least until this Thursday, but for now it has already extended the alert until next week. A situation that makes the risk of fire even more critical.

Wednesday, the worst day

This Tuesday the temperature will rise a bit more and will reach or exceed 40 °C again in the hottest areas of the interior, especially in Ponent and the Ebro valley. But the worst day of this week will be Wednesday, when thermometers will reach their peak in many cases. Many maximums will range between 38°C and 41 °C in the interior, the pre-coastal areas and the valleys of the Pre-Pyrenees, especially the western ones. But in Ponent and the Ribera d’Ebre, the maximums will range between 42°C and 44 °C. Values between 6 and 11 degrees above the average in many cases, considering that we are in the warmest month of the year.

All of Catalonia is on alert for extreme heat. Meteocat is extending alerts for very high danger of intense heat – the maximum possible – on Wednesday in the regions of Ponent and Ebre, a large part of the coast and pre-coastal areas of Barcelona, and most of the Girona regions. In the rest of the territory, the danger is high, with the exception of the Pyrenees, where it is moderate.

As for the nights, they are proving heavy and difficult to sleep in many regions. In fact, tropical minimum temperatures will become widespread with the peak of the heatwave. Only in the Pyrenees or Pre-Pyrenees will it be easier to sleep. There will also be torrid minimum temperatures on the coast, with nighttime values clearly above 25°C. Meteocat has also activated the alert for nighttime heat in several regions.

A heatwave that will also strongly hit a large part of the Iberian Peninsula, the western Mediterranean and other areas of Western Europe, especially western France. In these areas, temperatures will easily exceed 40°C again, as has already happened in the last episodes of extreme heat this year.

Brief heat break

Thursday and Friday will continue the extreme and rampant heat, although in some cases the temperature will already drop a degree. A slight, practically imperceptible decrease that will continue over the weekend. In any case, it will remain very hot, with many maximums of 33 °C to 38 °C. But all of this will be temporary, because from Sunday and especially at the beginning of next week, thermometers will once again reach their peak, with values very similar to those reached on Wednesday. Therefore, we will continue for quite a few more days under the effects of the subtropical anticyclone and this gust of very warm air of North African origin.

We will have to see if this second summer heatwave scorches some historical heat records, both in terms of readings and duration. A situation reminiscent of August last year, when Catalonia also experienced an extraordinarily long and historic heatwave. The maps indicate that we might breathe easier by the end of next week.