Several regions of Spain are recording record temperatures for the season. What is this phenomenon?
More than 29°C in Valencia on Thursday, 27.8°C in Murcia…Spain is under the influence of a new heat wave, in the middle of January. The phenomenon is repeated more and more frequently: already in December, the south of the country had recorded peaks of 29°C. In Andalusia and in drought-stricken Catalonia, water use restriction measures are already in force, but authorities may soon have to declare a state of emergency. How can we explain this summer climate in the middle of January?
More and more common
This climatic anomaly is due to the presence of a particularly powerful anticyclone above the Mediterranean, explains David Corell, researcher at the Spanish University of Valencia, to AFP. “There are no studies yet that have evaluated the long-term trend of this type of event, but it is clear that we are experiencing this type of abnormal situation more and more frequently,” he notes. .
The recorded temperatures are “proper for the middle or end of June”, estimates Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet). The south-east of France is affected to a lesser extent by the phenomenon: record temperatures for the month of January were recorded by the sea, but also in the Hautes-Pyrénées, with peaks above 22 °C.