The date of July 18 will remain engraved in the memory of the Catalan meteorological records. For the first time, the different meteorological services measured temperatures above 45ºC in the Alt Empordà region, where the highest levels on the Peninsula occurred.
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) reported that the maximum temperature in Spain was measured yesterday in Figueres, where the thermometers reached 45.3ºC, while the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (SMC) recorded the highest temperature in the Darnius reservoir. Boadella and in Navata (Alt Empordà), with 45.1ºC.
Both brands exceed in any case and comfortably the previous record of Catalonia, the 43.8ºC measured in Alcarràs on June 29, 2019. The network of automatic weather stations accumulates data series of more than 30 years.
The map of maximum temperatures in Catalonia for this Tuesday, the 18th, shows how many points in the northeast, the Central Pre-coastal, Central Catalonia and the West have exceeded 40 ºC.
Six seasons have exceeded 43ºC.
The heat was not only felt in the Empordà. In Anglés (Selva) 44.8ºC were recorded; in Artés (Bages), 44.4ºC; in Banyoles (Pla de l'Estany), 44.2ºC, and in Castellnou de Seana (Pla d'Urgell), 44ºC. The SMC indicated that 35 stations out of a total of 115 in the network of automatic stations that it manages with more than 20 years of data registered their absolute record, that is to say, 30%.
Yesterday the Government called for "maximum caution" throughout the day due to the high risk of fire, while the Rural Agents closed access to the natural spaces of Cap de Creus, Serra de Montsant, Montgrí, Garraf and Albera y Montmell -Marmellar for the risk of fire.
The maximum temperature values in the interior of the country far exceeded 42ºC, although locally they reached 44ºC in points in Girona.
To alleviate the effects of the extreme heat, the basements of the Girona cathedral also became climate shelters in the Girona capital. The City Council also agreed that the churches of El Mercadal and Sant Narcís act as spaces to shelter from the heat. In addition, free access will also be allowed to people over 65 years of age in the Devesa swimming pools, the Fontajau pavilion showers will be enabled and bottles of water will be provided to the homeless who live in the city.
The second heat wave, which affects more than half of Spain, will leave maximum values of between 38 and 42 degrees today in the center, south and east of the peninsula as well as in the Balearic Islands.
The sweltering heat continues today due to the very "warm, dry and stable" air mass coming from North Africa, and probably accompanied by high altitude haze. To these factors we must add the high insolation characteristic of these dates, which together with the stability and little cloudiness that is expected for this week will increase the heat.
The Aemet notes that, once the equator was passed in July 2023, "practically every day there have been temperatures above normal". In fact, the first 17 days of the month place July as the third warmest month in the historical series, only behind 2022 and 2015.
The high temperatures will activate the warnings in 9 communities this Wednesday, which will be extreme (in red) in Andalusia, Murcia and the Valencian Community, according to the Aemet prediction. Specifically, the red warnings (extreme risk) will be activated in the provinces of Malaga and Alicante, where it is expected to reach 42ºC in the central hours of the day, while in Murcia the thermometers will mark 44ºC.
