The earlier and more intense heat wave of the last decades has left a unprecedented record maximum temperature of 43.1°C in a month of June that were measured last Day 15 in the Ribarroja reservoir (Tarragona), according to the balance made today by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, which considers this first episode of intense heat of 2022.
Thus, temperatures have moderated this Monday with a 36.6°C maximum which has been recorded at the Baldomar weather station (Lleida), leaving behind the temperature record ever measured in the first half of June due to an air mass coming from North Africa.
Despite the intensity of this first heat wave of 2022, meteorologists have ensured that throughout the episode there have been few maximum temperature recordssince during the heat wave at the end of June 2019, the most intense in recent decades in the interior of Catalonia, the maximums were higher in general.
Wednesday June 15, the hottest
The highest temperatures of the episode in Catalonia were reached on Wednesday June 15with maximums of 42 to 43°C in various sectors of the Ribera de Ebre (43.1 °C in the Ribarroja Reservoir, 42.6 °C in Vinebre or 42.0 °C in Ascó).
“Exceed 40 °C during the first half of June is very exceptional in Catalonia. It passed locally (40-41 °C) in Ribera d’Ebre on June 14-15, 2003 and in some western and pre-coastal sectors on June 13-15, 1981 or June 12-13, 1931, but values of 42-43 °C are unprecedented in the first half of June in Catalonia”, highlighted the Meteorological Service of Catalonia.
Secondly, values of 43 ºC maximum have been historically very rare in Cataloniaalthough recently they have been reached more often: in August 2021, in June 2019 and July 2015, while previously, it is necessary to go back to July 1994 to find such high values.
📰 Press release: Balanç de l’onada de calor firstenca that has deixat fins a 43 ºC a Catalunya
More information to: https://t.co/j0IwsGZHAH pic.twitter.com/z2gG3dkueV— Meteocat (@meteocat) June 20, 2022
As already happened during the heat wave of June 2019 and also in mid-August 2021, some points in the western regions have recorded highs above 40 °C for 4 consecutive days, from Wednesday 15 to Saturday 18 June. , as in the case of the city of Lleida or Baldomar.
In this heat wave, only 6 of the 152 XEMA stations with more than 10 years of data have equaled or exceeded their absolute maximum for June, and in 4 cases (Pantano de Ribarroja, Albesa, Batea and Sort) also that of the whole series.
exceptionally warm nights
Throughout this heat wave there have also been quite warm nights in some sectors, with different characteristics, as in the cases in which there were “warm bursts“with sudden rises in temperature.
For example, Portbou (Girona) measured 35.1 °C at 01:57 a.m., 35.5 °C at 02:39 a.m. when the temperature at midnight was 21 °C), with 17% relative humidity and up to 91 km /h of maximum wind gust.
Roses (Girona) too exceeded 35 ° C in the middle of the nightwhile the maximum gust of wind was measured at the Santuario de Queralt station (Barcelona), with a speed of 121 km/h.
The nights have been especially warm in elevated places of the interior and the pre-coastalabove 20 °C and punctually above 25 °C, with thermal inversion.
Likewise, the 27 °C minimum on the 16th in La Pobla de Cérvoles (Lleida) and the 24.9 °C on the 17th at the Pujalt Observatory (Barcelona) stand out. Also, in the city of Barcelona, the warmest night It was from June 16 to 17with a minimum of 28.6 °C at the Fabra Observatory, 28.5 °C at Can Bruixa (Les Corts), or 27.1 °C at Raval.
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From June 15 to 1918 of the 152 stations with more than 10 years of data have measured their highest minimum temperature in a month of Junebut none of them in the entire series.
Beyond this intense heat wave, it has been more than a month since the temperature has been clearly superior to the normal in Catalonia and they are expected to remain higher than usual also in the coming days, although there will be a thermal drop starting on Wednesday.