Last month, Spain registered the warmest month of April since the beginning of the series in 1961. The records for April 2011 have been exceeded by 0.1 °C, so far, the warmest in the series. These are data from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), under the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which has published its climate balance for the month of April 2023.
The month of April has been extremely warm as a whole: average peninsular temperatures have been around 14.9°C, a value that is 3.0°C above the average for this month (reference period: 1991-2020).
The maximum daily temperatures in April were on average 4.7°C above the normal value. On the other hand, the minimums were 1.3°C above the average, which resulted in a daily thermal oscillation 3.4°C higher than the normal for the month.
In thirty main stations, the average temperature for the month was the highest for an April since records exist. In forty-five main stations the mean maximum temperatures were the highest in the April series, and in four the mean minimum temperatures were also the highest in April since the beginning of the observations.
Thermal anomalies close to 4 °C were observed in inland areas of Andalusia, eastern Extremadura and southwest of Castilla-La Mancha, and values close to 5 °C were reached in some points of these regions. In the rest of the southern half of the peninsula, as well as in areas of the Cantabrian mountain range, the Ebro valley and southern Castilla y León, the anomalies were around 3°C.
In the rest of the peninsula, the anomalies were close to 2°C, except in areas of the eastern Cantabrian Sea and the coasts of Catalonia and the Valencian Community, where they reached values close to 1°C. In the Balearic Islands, the anomalies took values between 0 °C and 2 °C, while in the Canary Islands they were between 1 °C and 3 °C.
Among the main observatories, the 38.8 °C of Córdoba/airport, the 37.4 °C of Morón de la Frontera, and the 36.9 °C of Granada/airport and Seville/airport stand out, all values measured on the 27th. .
Regarding the minimums, the lowest values were observed in the first days of the month, standing out among the main stations the -8.1 °C of Molina de Aragón registered on the 5th, the -6.9 °C of Burgos/airport on the 5th, the -5.2 °C of Valladolid/airport also on the 5th, and the -4.6 °C of Puerto de Navacerrada registered on the 13th. In the main station of Burgos/airport the minimum of day 5 it was the lowest for an April since the beginning of the series.
The month of April has been extremely dry. The average precipitation value in mainland Spain has been 14.2 mm, a value that represents 22% of the normal value for the month (reference period: 1991-2020). In other words, it has rained 78% less than normal. It has been the driest April since the beginning of the series in 1961.
April has been between extremely dry and very dry in almost the entire Peninsula, the island of Ibiza and the western Canary Islands. It has been between dry and normal in Galicia, northern Catalonia, parts of Castilla y León, northern Navarra, northeastern Basque Country, coastal areas of Murcia and the eastern Canary Islands, where it has been normal.
The highest daily rainfall recorded in main observatories corresponded to Santiago de Compostela/airport with 57.8 mm on the 22nd; Hondarribia/Malkarroa with 35.2 mm on the 12th; Vigo/Aeropuerto with 31.8 mm registered and Pontevedra with 26.2 mm, on the 13th. Regarding the total precipitation of the month, among the main stations, the 116.3 mm of Hondarribia/Malkarroa, Santiago de Compostela/ airport with 103.4 mm accumulated and 101.6 mm from Vigo/Airport.
