The Aemet warns of an episode of strong insolation: an African air mass inaugurates the summer

After several weeks with fairly widespread instability that has been giving rise to showers, storms and cooler temperatures than usual, “the situation is going to change”, according to the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET).. On Thursday, June 22, an anticyclonic situation and increasing stability will begin to dominate, which will consolidate over the following days..

The heat will begin to tighten and we can say that summer is coming. The entry of a very warm air mass from North Africa will lead to a progressive increase in temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, reaching values clearly higher than normal at this time of year and which will remain for a good part of the year. next week. The ascent will continue at least until the end of the week. On Saturday the heat will already be very intense in the southwest of the peninsula, with 42 degrees forecast in Córdoba and Seville and up to 41 degrees in Badajoz.

#Forecast
Pending whether the thermal rise that will take place from Thursday and that will last several days will lead to the first heat wave of the year.
We tell you here 👇https://t.co/9u8a9E7iAG pic.twitter.com/80jORlsAwa

– Eltiempo.es (@ElTiempoes) June 19, 2023

Even so, we have the front part of a trough over the western half of the Peninsula, which will encourage storms to form in the next 48 hours, especially in the northern half and in the eastern interior.. On Sunday, June 25, the most intense heat episode will be experienced. Thermometers will register 40 degrees in many areas of Extremadura, western Andalusia and even west of Castilla-La Mancha. 43 degrees could be reached in the city of Córdoba. Occasionally and in favorable areas, these maximums could be exceeded.

The first heat wave of summer?

During the weekend, 35 degrees can be easily reached and even exceeded in much of the interior of the peninsula. Cities like Palencia, Cuenca, Ávila, Zamora or even Teruel, will be around that mark. In areas of the Cantabrian Sea and in the surroundings of mountainous systems, in addition to the Canary Islands, they will remain below 30 degrees, although in the interior of Galicia they will exceed them.. The long-awaited night of San Juan, on Saturday, June 24, will be tropical in a good part of the country, since we will not drop below 20 degrees.

From AEMET they confirmed at the beginning of the week that it is still too early to affirm that we are facing the first heat wave of the summer, since the intensity, duration and extension thresholds must be exceeded. Officially in Spain, a heat wave is defined as “an episode of at least three consecutive days in which at least 10% of the weather stations record values above the threshold temperature. The threshold value corresponds to the 95% percentile of its series of maximum daily temperatures for the months of July and August for the period 1971-2000”. If it occurs, it would not be as early as that of 2022, which began on June 11 and was classified as the third in the ranking of extension, affecting 38 provinces..