Last hours of rampant heat: on the verge of a radical change in weather

BarcelonaTemperatures have still risen a little more this Friday, causing completely runaway heat for the season. Temperatures have once again reached and even exceeded 30 °C in Ponent and the Ebro, after it had already reached it for the first time this year yesterday. But in areas of the pre-coastal and northeastern regions, temperatures have also approached 29 or 30 °C. A practically summery day with values between 7 and 12 degrees above the average for the season. According to Meteocat data, 2026 ranks fifth in the podium of years in which 30 °C has arrived earliest since records began.

This Friday also saw the first tropical minimums of the year, one of the earliest phenomena since records began. Specifically, this has occurred in several municipalities of Alt Empordà, such as Portbou, Cabanes, and Espolla, where temperatures have not dropped below 21 °C all night due to the overheated tramontana wind. Also noteworthy is the minimum recorded at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, which, at 19.2 °C this Friday, stands as the highest minimum ever recorded in the month of April in 112 years of data.

On Saturday, it will still be very hot and the dust in suspension will remain, but throughout the day, cloud intervals will increase, and in the afternoon, the first muddy showers will arrive in the Pyrenees and Ponent. All of this will be the prelude to the radical change in weather that will arrive on Sunday due to the passage of an Atlantic front and the entry of a clearly colder air mass. A situation that will cause showers and a sharp drop in temperatures, which in some cases may be 10 or 15 °C compared to Friday.

Saturday: last day of atypical heat

On Saturday, temperatures will remain very high for the season, both day and night. It will not be cold early on, and mid-day will see many maximums repeated from 25 to 30 °C, although they may recede slightly inland. Again, thermometers will be more restrained on the coast due to the regulating effect of a still cold sea, where some local fogs are not ruled out.

But this Saturday, changes will arrive. Throughout the day, intervals of high and medium clouds will increase from west to east, and the sky may become overcast in the afternoon in the western half. In contrast, cloudiness will be less noticeable in the northeast. From the afternoon, the first showers will fall in the Pyrenees, and perhaps in the west. Still very little. There will be a snowline that will drop from 2,400 to 1,600 m. The rain will be accompanied by mud, as there will still be a lot of African dust in suspension.

Sunday: radical change of weather

The passage of a front and the entry of a clearly colder air mass driven by a Mediterranean low will cause a very sudden change in weather this Sunday. What we will notice most is a sharp drop in temperatures, which will be between 10 and 15 °C in inland areas and the Pyrenees. The drop will be more moderate on the coast, where the mercury has not risen so much in recent days. We are talking about many highs of 13 to 18 °C, nothing like the more than 30 °C of recent days. Clearly lower values in mountain areas.

All this with a sky very full of clouds and more instability. Showers are expected in practically any location. Until mid-afternoon, they will mainly affect inland areas, the western half, and the Pyrenees, but as the hours pass, they will reach the east of the country. In fact, between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, the rain may sweep mainly through the counties of Barcelona and Girona.

In the Pyrenees, the snowline will drop from 1,600 to 1,200 m, but on the north face, it may locally plummet to 800 m. The mistral and tramontana winds will gain strength in Empordà and the Ebro. A change of weather that will continue on Monday, but from Tuesday onwards, the sun and calm will return, with thermometers gradually recovering. Even so, we will not live remotely a new episode of atypical heat.