“I don’t remember it being this hot.” We’ve all said that phrase during a heat and then we felt exaggerated. It won’t be so bad, will it? We may not remember it. But now, anyone under 74 in Spain can say that, as the country is expected to break unbeaten temperature records throughout today, July 19. since 1950.
According to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), there are a total of 15 autonomous communities who have issued high temperature warnings. Those most affected by the heat will be Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, Navarre and the Community of Madrid.but there is also particular concern about this in Castile and Leon, Balearic Islands, Basque Country, La Rioja, Valencian Community and Catalonia.
In some places the temperatures are maximum They can touch 45 ºCbut it won’t just be a problem that day. After sunset, today and the coming days are expected to see many tropical nights with temperatures not dropping below 20 ºC, making sleep very difficult.
Origin of Record Heat
This is the first strong heat wave of the summer, although there was one in the spring, which showed that 2024 is going to be a hell of a year. What we are experiencing now may be the biggest heat wave in decades. But where did it come from?
As usual, the reason for this heat is sub-Saharan air mass which entered the Iberian Peninsula from the south and continued to spread throughout the country.
These phenomena, as we already know, are caused global warming. The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to an increase in air temperatures, which makes it easier for these hot air masses to expand and set temperature records. Also the water in the oceans is warming up, with all that this entails, both for aquatic ecosystems and for the climate. Hot water is the fuel for extreme events such as hurricanes, so the higher the temperature, the higher the risk of these types of events.
Many more tropical nights
We’ll have to wait until at least next week for the State Meteorological Agency to compare temperatures and compare them with previous years to see if the forecasts are coming true. For now, it looks like We are going to break a very alarming record.
But, as we have already seen, it is not the first. For example, tropical nights have gone from being an unpleasant exception to an exhausting norm. In 2022In the Spanish Mediterranean area there were points where the number of tropical nights during the year exceeded 100. In many places the temperature did not even drop below 25°C during many nights of abnormal heat. The latter is what is known as equatorial night
City Capdeperain Mallorca, where there were a total of 112 tropical nightsof which 54 were equatorial.
2023 was also a record year in this regard. The number of equatorial nights increased fivefold compared to the average of previous years. Given what we have seen, it would not be surprising if 2024 broke records in this regard as well.
Climate change is shaping our days and nights. It’s making it difficult for us to work and concentrate during the day, and it’s also making it difficult for us to rest at night. We’ll just have to wait to see this year’s numbers. For now, the forecasts are They don’t hope for anything.
Source: Hiper Textual
