The summer begins today, June 21, at 16.58 p.m. And, according to the forecasts of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), it will be a warm season compared to the average of other years and with a somewhat higher rainfall than that recorded in previous years.
The delegate of the Aemet in Aragón, Rafael Requena, has today offered a press conference in which he has reviewed the meteorological behavior of the spring that now ends and has advanced the next summer.
Thus, Requena has pointed out that this quarter (from March 1 to May 31) has been “exceptional”, it has been the warmest spring of the entire historical series (since 1961) with an average temperature 1.7°C higher than that registered so far. “The three provinces have experienced a significant average rise in temperatures. In localities like Hijar, for example, they have been 2.3°C above” says the Aemet delegate in Aragón.
For months, March was very warm and very dry. “There were days when we reached 30ºC and the month ended with a positive anomaly, specifically 2.2°C above the average, and in places like Castellote that increase reached 3ºC,” says Requena, who also emphasizes that “it was the third warmest March in history, after those registered in 1997 and 2001. As for the rainfall, it was scarce, in areas like Ejea and Sariñena it didn’t rain at all.”
April was also a very warm and extremely dry month. As an example, Jabaloyas, which has reached 3.9ºC above the average of any month of April. In Aragon as a whole, the anomaly was 2.7°C higher than usual.
In May the temperatures recorded were similar to those of other years. It was also a particularly dry month, especially in the depression of the Ebro. However, in this first half of June the rainfall has been the protagonists. In Teruel, for example, 138 liters per square meter have been collected, a figure that triples the average rainfall of the entire month. “The first week has already equalled the figure for the entire month. In Zaragoza and Huesca in those fifteen days the average rainfall of June has already been reached,” says the delegate of Aemet in Aragón.
For the season that begins today, Requena predicts that in Spain “temperatures will be above normal and rainfall, most likely they are somewhat higher than usual, thus being a warm summer and with stormy rainfall more often”.
On the other hand, “in Aragon it is expected that today will end an episode of frequent storms that in these next hours can be locally strong. From tomorrow the temperatures begin to rise and these will already be the same as the summer. We are entering a period of tranquility, at least a week”, highlights the delegate of Aemet in Aragón.