In Barcelona they did not drop below 19°C on an April night. And that’s more important than all the heat waves
It’s one piece of information, just one. But he alone weighs more than all the daytime maxims combined. Barcelona-Fabra just broke the record of a century with a nighttime minimum in April above 19 degrees. And yes, 19 degrees seems little compared to the 33-35 that the Guadalquivir Valley experienced that same day in the morning; But if climate change has been teaching us something for decades, it is that appearances can be deceiving. That anomaly called ‘April’. Although it is not being as scandalous as January, April is breaking all historical records. The fact that has been repeated the most is that AEMET has recorded more than 70 records temperature only in the first time of the month. In aggregate terms, we are talking about a sustained thermal anomaly of between 5 and 10 degrees. And it is interesting because, although it is evident that we are not talking about a ‘heat wave’, experiencing an anomaly of this size in this context is something tremendously revealing. Not only because they are the temperatures that most affect the population’s rest, but because they are the ones that rise the most due to the effect of climate change and the ones that best explain where the country’s climate is going. But what has happened? On April 10, at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, at the foot of Tibidabo, the minimum it did not drop below 19 degrees. That is, it is the warmest night in at least a century. And it was not an isolated event: the ALmería airport registered a minimum of 23.3 degrees that same night. That’s two degrees higher than the previous record. The month, as I said, has had more than 70 temperature records. AND, according to Duncan Winger of Tiempo.comwhat awaits us between the 18th and the 24th looks to be much worse. The explanation is simple… because it arises from two combined elements: a subtropical ridge installed on the peninsular vertical that blocks the arrival of Atlantic storms and a very warm air mass from the south that causes little relief at night. …but the fact that it is ‘explainable’ doesn’t reassure anyone. Above all, because we come from 9th warmest winter on record and an especially hot February with an anomaly of more than 2.4 degrees above average. Everything seems to indicate that the meteorological data show the structural warming that the models indicated. But… what can we expect from all this? First of all, be clear that nights are becoming a problem. Without leaving Barcelona, We know that mortality from natural causes in the city it increases up to 9.2% on nights when the temperature does not drop below 23 degrees. There are more consequences, of course: a good part of the country’s agriculture is in critical phases and the Mediterranean is getting so hot which is going to cause innumerable problems. But warm nights before HVAC systems are turned on are a public health risk that is difficult to control. Image | BenBaso | Xataka In Xataka | In two days, AEMET is clear that spring is suspended: an “early summer” arrives in Spain
