National Day and weekend to take advantage of, with bearable heat

BarcelonaWe are in for a very pleasant, radiant National Day of Catalonia to take advantage of, with very few nuances. Temperatures will remain normalized, with plenty of morning coolness and bearable heat kept in check during the middle of the day. Therefore, and as already happened this Thursday, 30 ºC will only be reached or slightly exceeded in parts of the south and in Ponent. The weekend will be similar, with small changes on Saturday, but quite calm and sunny in general. Thermometers will rise slowly, both by day and by night, but always far from extremes. At the beginning of next week we could have a transitory warm peak, which would not last long. We have set our path towards autumn, and, except for transitory peaks, there is no sign that would make us think of a return of extreme summer heat.

National Day: calm and few changes

The Diada will start with only some low clouds or morning fog between Girona and Barcelona. But above all with a very fresh atmosphere overall again, and colder in mountain areas. Many minimums will range between 11 °C and 16 °C in the pre-coastal areas and inland, lower in the north of Central Catalonia. In the Pyrenees, it will drop below 5 °C in some cases again, and on the coast, it will be difficult to reach 20 °C.

Sun and calm will generally dominate the entire day, and in the afternoon only a few clouds will grow in the northeast interior which, overall, will be harmless. Even so, the odd drop or light and local shower cannot be ruled out in the Montseny area. Maximum temperatures will rise slightly and most will range between 25 °C and 30 °C. In the west and the Ebro valley they may be slightly higher. The morning mistral will gradually leave the Ebro, and the tramontane will remain concentrated in the north of the Alt Empordà.

Weekend with slight nuances

On Saturday, cloud intervals will increase along the coast and pre-coastal areas of Barcelona, southern Girona, and northern Tarragona. In these areas, some light and local showers or drizzles cannot be ruled out. These would be anecdotal phenomena if they occur, while sun will dominate in the rest of the country. Radiant and calm weather that will become widespread again by Sunday.

On Saturday, thermometers will see few changes, although humidity and sultriness will increase near the sea. And starting Sunday, temperatures will rise more significantly, with more marked heat in the middle of the day. A warm atmosphere that will peak between Monday and Tuesday, before a new decrease afterwards. Nights will remain cool in most of the territory, although minimum temperatures will also go up.

Cooling down assessment

Temperatures bottomed out on Thursday morning, with a forceful cooling that brought a very cool or cold atmosphere depending on the region. A sweater was essential in many counties, and even jackets in the Pyrenees. Minimums of 8 °C to 14 °C were recorded inland and in the pre-coastal areas, in some cases even lower. On the coast, temperatures also generally dropped below 20 °C, and in some sections, they even hovered around 15 °C.

In mountain areas, the cold was more evident, especially in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, where temperatures dropped below 5 °C in many cases. Notable is the minimum of almost -1 °C in Das, in Cerdanya. The first timid frosts remind us that autumn is already approaching. Over the next few days, thermometers will rise, but this sudden cooling has been a definitive blow to the long and scorching summer we have experienced.