At the gates of the new (and umpteenth) heatwave

BarcelonaToday we will have a small respite from the extreme heat, but with the arrival of more African air, the thermometer will soon shoot up again. Yesterday was the last official day of the summer's second heatwave, with thermometers already deflating more. Nevertheless, they brushed 40°C again in Ponent and reached or exceeded 38°C in various points of the interior and Pre-Pyrenees. In fact, today this temperature drop will consolidate and we will breathe a little better, although it will continue to be scorching hot. But let's not get used to it, because it will all 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 yet have 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 low temperatures have been repeated in many places, and some torrid ones on the coast (25 °C in Barcelona, for example). The feeling indoors is of having slept better, while in the mountains at night it has remained cool (13 °C in Puigcerdà). Most highs will range between 33 °C 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. The mugginess will be noticeable on the coast, with sticky heat.

All in all, with sun and calm in general, although cloudy spells will return to the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, leaving some local showers or thunderstorms, especially in the eastern sector. These showers will appear early in the morning in Berguedà and northern Solsonès, but will dissipate throughout the morning, reappearing in the afternoon.

Sunday: heat alerts return

After the slight breather on Saturday, from Sunday onwards the thermometers will start to 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 maximum temperatures will still be between 33°C and 38°C. The sun will combine with bands of high, thin clouds, and the afternoon showers in the Pyrenees will not be repeated.

Scorching heat next week

Over the course of next week, 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 generally. 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 Community.

Temperatures at an altitude of 1,500 meters will be extraordinarily high, between 26°C 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 west of the Peninsula. Factors that could prevent thermometers from soaring so much, although they will cause a lot of sultriness along the coast and widespread sleepless nights.

In any case, many highs of 36 °C to 41 °C are expected, and above 42 °C or 43 °C in Ponent and the Ebro valley. An episode that we will have to follow very carefully, and which will accumulate a total of about twelve days of very intense heat in our region at least. All this without rain in sight, with the hope that from the end of next week the thermometers will drop with more enthusiasm.