The torrid nights, with a minimum temperature of more than 25ºC, have quintupled this summer in Spain

Tropical nights, torrid nights and heat waves have multiplied in recent years in Spain, where in 2022 a total of 202 days exceeded the average temperature compared to the reference period 1981-2010.. Thus, only torrid nights, in which the minimum temperature does not drop below 25 degrees Celsius, have multiplied this summer compared to the average, according to a report from the Sustainability Observatory (OS)..

The study, provided to Europa Press, reflects that the summer of 2023 has had a temperature of 1.3 degrees Celsius than the average of the reference period 1991-2020, which makes it the third warmest summer since they began in 1961. the registers.

The number of days in which the temperature exceeds 30ºC has also increased, up to 40, compared to 1975.. Furthermore, the number of days in which 35ºC is exceeded since 1975 has reached about 45 days, while the number of days in which 40ºC is exceeded reached 17 during 2022.. Likewise, the data analysis shows that since 2015 the days in which temperatures exceed 45ºC have become more and more frequent.. In short, in all cases the number of days in which each temperature threshold is exceeded has been exceeded..

The report, presented this Thursday, compiles and analyzes summer data from the State Meteorological Agency and Copernicus along with other estimates from international think tanks such as Berkeley Earth.

The work concludes that this summer was the third warmest since 1961, with an average temperature of 1.3ºC and that the eight warmest summers since there are records have occurred in the last eight years, between 2016 and 2023..

It also points out that the decade of 2014-2023 has been the warmest since there are records and that in 2023, until September 3, 202 warmer days have been recorded, out of a total of 265 days (summer) than the average of the period 1981-2010.

240 torrid nights in 2023, 60 more than in 2022

The analysis observes that hot nights have multiplied by five since the historical average observed between 1991-2020. Specifically, during 2023, 240 torrid nights have been recorded compared to 179 in 2022..

Along the same lines, the number of tropical nights has increased, in which the minimum does not drop below 20ºC, which has multiplied by 1.2 in 2023 compared to 1511 to 1786..

During the month of July, hellish nights also increased, which are those in which the minimum does not drop below 30ºC, since it reached that value in points such as Melilla, Málaga or Tenerife.. The cities where hellish nights have increased the most are Barcelona, with a difference of more than 175 days increase, followed by Tenerife and Malaga, where they increased from 65 to 70 days.

The study reflects that for the moment the provinces in the north of the country are saved from a pronounced increase, although in Cantabria there have been increasingly frequent peaks since 2000..

At the moment, the Balearic Islands lead the ranking of growth in the number of torrid nights, where they have increased by about 13 nights, followed by Tarragona, Almería, Melilla and Murcia. For their part, Jaén, Tenerife, Almería, Melilla and Málaga begin to observe hellish nights. This year, they lived one on July 20 and another on August 2.

Heat waves

The work details the four heat waves recorded this summer of 2023 in Spain. The first from July 9 to 12 and the second from July 17 to 19. On those days, 44.5ºC was recorded in Córdoba on the 17th; 44.2ºC at the airports of Málaga and Granada on July 10 and 19 and in Murcia-Alcantarilla, on July 19 it reached 43.9ºC.

Likewise, the third heat wave occurred from August 7 to 12 and the fourth began on August 20, with record temperatures of up to 46.8ºC reached at Valencia airport..

In total, heat waves in 2022 reached 41 days in duration, a figure never before reached and which doubles the average of the last 10 years. The report states that since 2015 every year has presented “extraordinary severity with respect to heat waves, becoming almost the “new normal” when before, except in 2012, 2003 and 1991, they were almost anecdotal..

For this reason, it states that heat waves have doubled in 2022 to reach an average duration of 13.6 days, something that had only been achieved in 2015, since in previous years the average length per heat wave was about five days long. Along the same lines, the work points out that the extent of heat waves has also grown, which this year has affected 40 provinces..

It also exceeds “all previous records” the maximum temperature anomaly recorded in the set of all heat waves recorded in 2022, with a value of 4.5ºC.

According to the report, the Sustainability Observatory calls for increasing the “mandatory” policies for adaptation to climate change, since everything indicates that in the future there will be more and more nights of these characteristics and that heat waves will be increasingly more frequent, they will have more intensity and duration. “All policies must take this evidence into account,” insists the research center, which urges the future government to fight against extreme heat and the climate emergency as a “priority axis” of public policies..

The doctor in Physical Sciences and one of the authors of the report Elena González Egea has stated that with these data it can be seen that in Spain the population is “subjected to much greater risks than just a few years ago due to the increase in temperatures.”.

“The creation and implementation of effective adaptation measures becomes increasingly urgent.. Spain is the country in Europe most vulnerable to climate change, and its effects are already being devastating,” he reflects..

Along the same lines from the Sustainability Observatory, Carlos Alfonso highlights the importance of early warnings in heat waves and extreme heat and calls for better real, more up-to-date information and databases of good practices as well as cost-benefit studies to see the effectiveness of the measures.** Finally, the spokesperson for the Sustainability Observatory, Fernando Prieto, has defended the “radical need” to implement public policies “from now on” and that are based on a scientific approach to protect people and adapt urban ecosystems, renaturalizing the city, eliminating combustion cars in the center or isolating homes, so that heat islands disappear and reduce the risk of climate change”.

In his opinion, policies that do not go in this direction will “directly produce health problems and deaths due to heat in the most vulnerable population.”.

In short, the OS urges the adoption of a plan of “very thoughtful and radical” measures to adapt to the increase in temperature in cities, taking into account the diversity of situations in each city..

Among its proposals for cities, it proposes the implementation of early warning systems, solving energy poverty, increasing vegetation and water in cities, promoting increased shade with pergolas, changing the trees, increasing white areas, promoting the installation of solar roofs, sustainable mobility, the promotion of bicycles and pedestrian areas or the growth of non-polluting public transport, as well as reducing the traffic of fossil fuel vehicles as much as possible, among other measures.