While waiting for the heatwave that will bring the first 40 ºC of the year

BarcelonaThe heat continued to be very intense and full summer this Thursday, but the mercury did not soar as much as yesterday in the interior, when temperatures exceeded 38 ºC in Ponent and Ebre. On Friday there will be few changes, but from the weekend onwards temperatures will soar again. The anticyclone and the gust of very warm air from North Africa will strengthen and fully embrace the Iberian Peninsula and a good part of Europe, especially the west of the continent, where suffocating conditions are expected and we will see if there are any heat records in a June month. In Catalonia, all this will result in a heatwave that will last at least until Sant Joan's Eve, with maximums of up to 40 ºC or more in the interior and tropical or torrid nights in many regions. Meteocat maintains the heatwave alert between Sunday and Tuesday, especially in the interior of the country.

Friday: few changes

The weather will remain without major changes this Friday, with general sunshine, suspended dust and afternoon clouds in the Pyrenees which, at most, will leave some local shower in the western sector. However, the novelty will be that during the early morning and until the first hour of the morning there will be some intervals of clouds that may leave some drizzle or weak and local shower in the pre-coastal area, inland and in the Pre-Pyrenees. Little will fall where it does, and it will all pass quickly.

Pleasant and mid-summer day, with intense heat and values very similar to Thursday's. Therefore, tropical minimums will be repeated in some parts of the central and southern coast and pre-coast – especially in large urban areas – and many maximums of 30 to 35 ºC, higher in Ponent and the Ebro valley. The stuffy feeling will persist on the coast.

Suffocating weekend

Temperatures will begin to rise from the weekend, which will kick off the heatwave. Saturday will already be very hot, and 40 ºC may be reached for the first time this year in Ponent or the Ebro valley. From Sunday onwards, this value will be easier to reach or exceed in these areas and perhaps in other inland areas. Precisely on Sunday morning, the astronomical summer will officially begin, and it will do so in grand style.

To declare a heatwave, there must be at least three consecutive days with very high temperatures exceeding the extreme heat threshold set for each municipality. So far, it has been very hot, but this requirement had not yet been met. In this episode, the circumstances are already expected to occur, especially between Sunday and Tuesday, and particularly in inland regions. During these days, temperatures between 8 and 12 degrees above the usual average for this time of year are forecast.

A scorching situation that will also bring a lot of suspended dust and very restless nights, with tropical minimums (above 20 ºC) quite widespread, and even scorching on the coast (above 25 ºC). Therefore, the heat will be intense both day and night. From Saint John's Day onwards, the mercury will ease off, but thermometers will remain clearly above average for the rest of the month.