Cold nights and little warmth during the day: the weather is not completely clear over the weekend

BarcelonaThe passage of a polar front has caused a significant cooling, with an atmosphere more typical of March than May. Temperatures have been between 3 and 8 degrees below the average for the season, and snow has fallen in the Pyrenees below 1,400 m, leaving wintery, postcard-like landscapes at medium and high altitudes. In Montseny, snow was also anecdotally observed at the highest elevations. Yesterday, showers and storms intensified in the afternoon in the center and north of the country. Locally they were strong and accompanied by hail, short-lived, and accumulated little water: most left between 2 and 8 l/m². Even so, in some cases these figures were exceeded: 18 l/m² at Lac Redon (2,245 m, Vall d'Aran) or 12 at Santa Coloma de Farners (Selva) stand out.

All of this, on the eve of a weekend that has started very cold for the season. In the early morning and morning, the air has been wintry, with quite widespread frosts in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees. Maximum temperatures will be recovering, but will continue to be very restrained. Today, sun and north wind will dominate in the extremities, with only a few scattered afternoon showers in parts of the Pyrenees and the northeastern interior. On Sunday, a front will graze us which, along with the cold air we still have at altitude, will reactivate showers and thunderstorms in parts of the center and north of the territory. But next week the anticyclone will gradually settle in, and we will have much more calm and increasingly more heat.

Saturday: mercury in check and more calm

This Saturday we woke up to a cold atmosphere. A jacket morning in general, or an overcoat especially in mountain areas. Many minimums have ranged between 3 °C and 6 °C inland and 7 °C and 11 °C on the coast. In the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, frosts have been quite widespread, but it seems that, fortunately for the farmers, they are not expected to spread beyond these areas. It was -1 ºC in Puigcerdà and -8 ºC in La Tossa d'Alp (at 2,500 m). Inland they have dropped, for example, to 3 ºC in Vic or to 1.5 ºC in Alfarràs (Segrià) and in Prades (Priorat). Even on the coast, the atmosphere has been almost wintry, with a minimum of 8 ºC in Viladecans or 7 ºC in Cunit.

Maximums will rise, especially in the northern half, but they will still be very restrained. Many values from 17 °C to 22 °C, a little higher in the south.

Sun and calm will dominate, with mistral and tramontana winds at the extremities, and morning fogs in inland plains and valleys of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees. By the afternoon, cloudiness will increase again in mountain areas, but only a few scattered showers are expected in parts of the Pyrenees and the northeastern interior.

Sunday: more showers

Temperatures will rise more tomorrow, both day and night, although they will remain below average. Many highs will range between 17 °C and 23 °C, but will reach 25 °C in parts of Ponent and the southern interior. The morning will be calm, but in the afternoon instability will increase, and more scattered showers and storms are expected towards the Pyrenees, Pre-Pyrenees, Central Catalonia, the pre-littoral, and the Ports.

An instability that will decrease in the coming days, as mid-week anticyclonic calm will once again dominate. The cold air mass we currently have will be moving away, and this will make the heat more evident at midday from Wednesday onwards, with many highs ranging from 25 °C to 30 °C on the pre-littoral and inland.