The heat wave will not ease but afternoon showers will increase.

BarcelonaThe last weekend of June was marked by the first heat wave of the summer, with temperatures reaching 43°C in some places and exceeding 38-40°C in many regions of the country (you'll find all the data at the end of this report). This intense and extreme heat will continue for several more days, but the new feature will be afternoon showers in the northern half, providing a respite for those lucky enough to see rain in the afternoons. However, where the weather isn't warm, the nights will be restless.

Monday: intense heat and more afternoon showers

The week will begin with somewhat more unstable weather due to the arrival of more cold air from high altitude, although this will only result in showers and thunderstorms concentrated in the eastern Pyrenees and other inland and northern regions of the country, locally accompanied by thunderstorms and hail or stones. Elsewhere, the sun will remain dominant, with unrelenting heat. Intense muggy conditions will be expected along the coast, with scorching lows in many cases, and midday temperatures above 35°C practically everywhere inland, with the exception of mid- and high-mountain areas.

Intense heat warnings will remain in effect, affecting virtually the entire country (with the exception of the Pyrenees, the Barcelona Pre-Pyrenees, and Central Catalonia), as will nighttime heat warnings for the central and northern coasts. The new warnings are for intense rainfall, which will affect Ripollès, Berguedà, and Lluçanès on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday: peak of the heat wave

Looking ahead to the first day of July, the same pattern as Monday will be repeated, with a very sunny morning following a warm dawn once again, with scorching lows on the coast and tropical temperatures in many inland areas. In the West and inland Ebro, temperatures will range between 34°C and 38°C in the rest of the inland areas, and between 30°C and 33°C on the coast, occasionally higher. Afternoon showers will be repeated, concentrated in the Pyrenean regions.

The heat will ease by midweek.

The warm air mass that has been with us for days will move toward the center and east of the continent starting Wednesday, causing temperatures to cool slightly and the atmosphere to become less warm. However, a significant cooling is not expected, but rather a relative return to normal temperatures, which will be more typical of early July and will surpass record levels.

Heat wave balance

Temperatures had already begun to rise sharply on Friday, especially inland, and have continued to rise over the weekend. Intense heat throughout, resulting in many highs of 34°C to 38°C, but much higher locally. In fact, to the west, inland from the Ebro River and in Priorat, temperatures exceeded 39°C and 40°C, and have already reached 41°C or 42°C locally. Specifically in Vinebre (Ribera d'Ebre), with 42.9°C, the highest high of this episode (and provisionally of the year) in the entire country. This is the summary of the highest maximum temperatures reached since Friday:

• 42.9 °C: Vinebre
• 41.2 °C: Ribarroja Reservoir
• 41.2 °C: Torroja del Priorat
• 41.1 °C: El Masroig
• 40.8 °C: Siurana Reservoir
• 40.3 °C: Lleida
• 40.2 °C: Benissanet and Almadraba de Seana
• 40.1 °C: Cabins
• 40.0 °C: Batea
• 39.9 °C: Ascó, Aldover and Fornells de la Selva
• 39.7 °C: Gandesa
• 39.8 °C: Seròs
• 39.6 °C: San Salvador de Guardiola
• 39.2 °C: Girona

Aside from these records, we mustn't forget that the heat is also intensely affecting other areas of the Iberian Peninsula and France, among others. In Spain, Saturday the 28th saw the highest temperature ever recorded for a month of June, with 46.0°C in Granado (Huelva). In Portugal, Sunday the 29th was also the warmest June day on record, with 45.4°C in Alvega (Santarém district).

Furthermore, the night from Friday to Saturday was very warm, with exceptionally high minimum temperatures. Of note were the 29°C in Llançà and the 28.1°C in Portbou, in the Alt Empordà, due to the reheated north wind in the early morning. A situation that was repeated during the early hours of Sunday, when temperatures in Llançà did not drop below 30.8°C, the first red-hot night of the year in the country.

All of this is the icing on the cake for a June that we can now confirm as the warmest on record in Catalonia, with positive temperature anomalies every day of the month, without exception. An unusually warm period of extraordinary duration that has surpassed previous records of very warm Junes, such as those in 2003 and 2022.