Summerlike heat is baking Southern Europe as April records fall
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An early-season heat wave is shattering records across the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. Temperatures more like July than April have invaded Portugal and Spain, as well as countries in northern Africa, including Morocco. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The cause is an intrusion of superheated air off the Sahara Desert that is being pumped northward by winds circulating around a strong, slow-moving zone of low pressure in the North Atlantic.
Temperatures are forecast to approach 104 degrees (40 Celsius) in portions of southern Spain on Thursday and Friday, “which would be unprecedented for April,” tweeted Mika Rantanen, a climate scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
On Thursday afternoon, Portugal posted its highest April temperature on record soaring to 97.7 degrees (36.5 Celsius) in Castro Verde, a town in the southern interior portion of the country.
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There is some chance Spain will also experience its highest temperature ever recorded in April during the next two days, which would also represent an April heat record for all of Europe.
Records already fallen
While the heat wave was still ramping up on Tuesday and Wednesday, temperatures widely rose above 95 degrees (35 Celsius). Some impressive monthly records for April were set, and many more are likely on the way.
This is just insane! Let's see how the event develops but records for April are being broken now. This is #Tarifa, Cádiz. Stay updated at https://t.co/xjhFFqn6eD pic.twitter.com/aCAYWmLuqd — DanielArgueso (@DanielArgueso) April 26, 2023
A few were toppled Tuesday, including at the Strait of Gibraltar, where it reached 84.6 degrees (29.2 Celsius), surpassing the previous record by more than 5 degrees (3 Celsius). Xativa, Spain, set a monthly high of 97.2 degrees (36.2. Celsius).
Then more records fell Wednesday. The new high temperatures include the following monthly records in Spain, according to extreme temperature expert Thierry Goose:
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99.7 degrees ( 37.6 Celsius ) in El Granado
98.8 degrees (37.1 Celsius) in Morón de la Frontera
98.6 degrees (37.0 Celsius) in Sevilla-Tablada
97.9 degrees (36.6 Celsius) Córdoba
Many of these records are likely to broken again before the heat wanes this weekend. The overall Spanish and European April record of 102.2 degrees (39 Celsius) could fall Thursday or Friday.
It has been as hot or hotter in North Africa.
Many monthly records were set in Morocco on Wednesday, for instance. According to climate historian Maximiliano Herrera, Nouasseur led the way with a high of 104.2 degrees (40.1 Celsius). Other locations setting April records included Marrakesh, where it hit 103.3 degrees (39.6 Celsius).
This spell of heat comes after other April records were set earlier in the month in Málaga on the southern coast of Spain.
Heat comes amid worsening drought
The predicted temperatures through Friday and Saturday in southern Spain and parts of Portugal are as much as 36 degrees (20 Celsius) or more above normal for this time of year.
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While some of the heat will briefly expand farther into mainland Europe, it will mainly stay confined to the Iberian Peninsula.
Temperatures across the southern half of France will rise above 80 degrees (upper 20s Celsius) Friday and early this weekend. Those temperatures are about 9 to 18 degrees (5 to 10 Celsius) above normal for the date.
“In France, [the heat wave’s] effects will be felt but in a much less exceptional way,” wrote meteorologist Guillaume Séchet on Twitter.
🇪🇸🌡️📈 #Drought-hit #Spain is bracing for an unusually early #heatwave, prompting fears for #wildfires in a nation already so dry that some farmers have opted not to plant crops.
Here's more 👇 pic.twitter.com/fOG8mUnIgH — FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 25, 2023
Heat in Spain and surrounding regions is also being amplified by one of the worst droughts on record for the area. Drought has been ongoing in parts of Spain for five years, leaving 27 percent of the nation in a drought emergency and water reserves at 50 percent capacity nationwide, according to the Associated Press.
Extreme fire danger will cover large parts of the country through the weekend, with outdoor burning prohibited.
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Although heat is expected to abate somewhat into next week, the forecast remains toasty into the near future. Weather modeling suggests many more above-average readings than below in the region through at least the next several weeks.
As the spring turns into summer, the feedback mechanism of dry soil leading to higher temperatures and higher temperatures leading to drier soil is set to continue. Human-caused climate change is also adding extra heat to the already scorching situation.
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Source: The Washington Post
