No respite from the heat wave: When will temperatures drop?

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 development 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 heavy, the nights will continue to be sleepless. From midweek onwards, but especially during the weekend, the atmosphere will be much more breathable, and this bout of extreme heat will be over.

Monday: intense heat and more afternoon showers

The week begins after another tropical night and poor sleep in many places, and once again torrid weather in parts of the coast, with lows above 25°C in some cases. The last day of June will once again be marked by a heat wave, with extreme and stifling temperatures. Intense muggy conditions on the coast and many highs of 34 to 39°C in the pre-coastal and inland areas, but temperatures will once again exceed 40°C in the hottest areas, such as the West and southern inland areas.

Bright sunshine will generally dominate, but the new development will be somewhat more unstable weather due to the entry of more cold air from high altitude. This will translate into irregular afternoon showers and thunderstorms concentrated in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, as well as in other nearby regions, such as northern Central Catalonia and some areas of northeastern inland. Locally, they will be strong and accompanied by thunderstorms and hail or stones.

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. Nighttime heat warnings are also in effect 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 once again warm dawn, with scorching lows on the coast and tropical temperatures in many inland areas. The central hours of the day will once again be marked by intense heat, with highs that will remain stable and range between 40 and 42°C in the West and inland areas of the Ebro, between 34 and 39°C in the rest of the inland areas, and between 30 and 30°C above sea level. Afternoon showers will be repeated, concentrated in the Pyrenean regions and the northern inland areas.

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, temperatures are not expected to return significantly to normal, rather, temperatures will return to a relative level, more typical of early July and leaving behind record-breaking and extreme temperatures. Wednesday will still be very hot, but highs will drop, and it will be from Thursday onward and into the final stretch of the week that temperatures will drop more sharply.

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 39°C, but much higher locally. In fact, to the west, inland from the Ebro River and in Priorat, temperatures exceeded 40°C, and 41°C or 42°C have already been reached 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 maximum 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 nights have been very warm and sleepless, especially on the coast, 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 early morning's superheated north wind. 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.