At the gates of the new (and umpteenth) heatwave

BarcelonaThis Friday was the last official day of the summer's second heatwave, with thermometers already deflating more. However, temperatures again brushed 40 °C in Ponent, and 38 °C were reached or surpassed in several points of the interior and the Pre-Pyrenees. In fact, on Saturday this temperature drop will consolidate, and we will breathe a little better, although it will continue to be canicular heat. But let's not get used to it, because all of this will last very little. From Sunday onwards, temperatures will rise again and a new episode of extreme heat will begin. We are on the verge of what will be the third heatwave of the summer, when we will not have even recovered from the second. Initially, Meteocat had encompassed this episode within the same heatwave of recent days, but finally they have separated them into two. The suffocating atmosphere gives no respite.

Saturday: more breathable day

Temperatures will drop further, both day and night. Tropical lows will be repeated in many places, and some torrid ones on the coast. But the sensation indoors will be that you will sleep better, while in the mountains the coolness will be maintained. Most of the maximums will be between 33 and 38 °C, and it will be more difficult to reach 40 °C in Ponent. Therefore, it will continue to be very hot with values clearly above average, but without the extremes of previous days.

All this with sun and calm in general. Only cloudiness will return to the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, leaving some local showers or thunderstorms, especially in the eastern sector.

Sunday: heat alerts return

After Saturday's slight respite, from Sunday onwards temperatures will rise again, especially towards the interior and the Pyrenees. It will once again be easier to reach 40°C in Ponent. In fact, Meteocat has activated new yellow alerts for intense heat in this area and in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees. Many maximums will still be between 33 and 38°C. The sun will combine with bands of high, thin clouds, and afternoon showers in the Pyrenees will no longer occur.

Scorching heat next week

Throughout next week the thermometers will be rising and the peak of this new heatwave will arrive. The peak is especially expected between Wednesday and Thursday, with suffocating conditions across the board. All this will be the result of a new bubble of warm North African air that will fully affect the western Mediterranean and, therefore, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Country.

Temperatures at an altitude of 1,500 m will be extraordinarily high, between 26 and 28°C, a couple of degrees above the values reached during the second heatwave. But there will be more humidity and a lot of Saharan dust in suspension will arrive, driven by the counter-clockwise rotation of a low-pressure system located to the west of the Peninsula. Factors that could prevent thermometers from soaring so much, although they will cause a lot of sultriness on the coast and sleepless nights generally.

In any case, many highs of 36 to 41°C are expected, and above 42 or 43°C in Ponent and the Ebro valley. An episode that we will have to follow very closely, and which will accumulate a total of at least twelve days of very intense heat in our area. All this with no rain in sight, with the hope that from the end of next week the thermometers will drop more eagerly.