The Fabra Observatory records the warmest April night in its history

BarcelonaThe mass of warm air that has accompanied us all week has sent the mercury soaring across the country, with temperature values exceeding 30 °C for three consecutive days, a situation unusual at the beginning of April that reminds us that summer is approaching. These high temperature readings were not concentrated only during daytime hours, but it has also been hot at night. Specifically, the night from Thursday to Friday was the one that recorded the highest lows, with the first tropical night of the year in Catalonia (the second earliest since records began). The award for the first tropical night of 2026 goes to Portbou, in Alt Empordà, where the heated tramuntana wind prevented the mercury from dropping below 21.6 °C, values more typical of June or July.

This spring heatwave has few precedents, especially because we have had high temperatures for quite a few consecutive days. In fact, in the country's longest data series, that of the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, there is no precedent for a higher minimum in April than that of Friday the 10th. Specifically, the 19 °C recorded at the manual station is a value that had not been seen in its 112 years of data, and it exceeds the previous record, in effect since 1945, by four tenths.

A further sign of the progressive warming that the planet is suffering is that three of the five highest minimum temperature values recorded in April at this observation point correspond to the last three years. And, in fact, two of them are from this week: the record, from this Friday, and the 18.1 °C from Thursday, which are the fifth highest record.

A cold front arrives

The situation will change radically towards this Sunday, when the passage of a cold front will bring us back to more typical early spring weather, with rain, snow in the Pyrenees, and temperatures that will drop everywhere. During the morning, the sky will remain overcast, with precipitation concentrated in the western Pyrenees and the western half, where the thermal drop will begin to be noticed.

It will be from midday when we notice that the maximum temperature will drop everywhere, and it will go from 23 °C to 8 °C in Viella, from 29 °C to 18 °C in Girona, and from 25 °C to 19 °C in Barcelona. Furthermore, from mid-afternoon, the rain will reach more counties in the center and east of the country, and during the night and early morning, it will be concentrated in the counties of Barcelona and Girona. The snow line will drop to 800 or 900 meters on the north face of the Pyrenees and to 1,200 or 1,400 meters in the rest of the mountain range, which will be whitewashed again after having been without snow during the week.

This cold front will also reopen the door to wind at both ends of the territory, with a tramuntana and a mistral that, during the afternoon and evening, could reach gusts of more than 75 or 80 km/h, which could alter the maritime situation offshore.