The 20th day begins the spring after the warmest winter since 1961 in the Region of Murcia

• The period from December 2023 to February 2024 had an “extremely warm” thermometric character, with an average temperature of 11.9°C, and an anomaly of +2.5°C with respect to the average value
• The average rainfall in this quarter was 19.9 l/m2, which is only 24% of the average value for that period, and gives the period a very dry character

March 13, 2024. At 4 hours and 6 minutes of next Wednesday 20th begins the spring after an extremely warm winter in the Region of Murcia, where an average temperature of 11.9°C was recorded between December 2023 and February 2024 that have made this quarter the warmest of, at least, the last 63 years, surpassing that of the years 1965-66 by 0.5°C.

This period has also been very dry, since the average rainfall was 19.9 liters per square meter (l/m2), which represents only 24% of the average value for that period and what makes it the fourth driest winter of the last 63 years, after the years 2018-2019 (10.4 l/m2), 2021-2022 (17.2 l/m2) and 1972-1973 (18.8 l/m2).

Temperature evolution

To this extremely warm thermometric character, maximum temperatures contributed to a greater extent, with an average of 17.8°C and an anomaly of +3.2°C, being the warmest of the whole series, exceeding by 1.1°C to the previous ephemeris, recorded in the winter of 1994-95, with 16.7°C. The average of the minimums, 6.0°C and an anomaly of 1.8°C, were the second warmest in the series, just behind the one recorded in the winter of 1965-66, with 6.1°C.

It is worth highlighting the characters of the last six winters: very warm from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023, and extremely warm from 2023-2024.

The month of December 2023, with an average temperature of 11.0°C and anomaly + 1.4°C, was very warm, the ninth warmest of at least, the last 63 years and the sixth warmest of the 21st century. The month of January, with an average temperature of 12.0°C and an anomaly of +3.2°C, had an extremely warm character, the warmest of, at least, the last 63 winters. February, with an average temperature of 12.6°C and an anomaly of +2.8°C, was very warm, the third warmest in the series.

The highest average daily temperature of the quarter took place on December 12, and the lowest on January 12, closely followed by December 17. The quarterly absolute maximum, 30.0ºC, was recorded at the Pliego Dam, on December 12. The days with the lowest average maximum were on January 12 and 20, with the lowest quarterly maximum, 4.0°C on January 6 in Campo de San Juan (Moratalla).

Temperature Ephemeris

During this winter, ephemeris of medium and medium temperature of maxims have been overcome in stations with very long series such as those shown in the following table:

Precipitation

It should be noted that this winter is the third consecutive with a very dry character, and that the previous one was dry.

The month of December, with an average rainfall of 2.0 l/m2, was very dry, the sixth driest in the last 63 years along with that of 1967. The months of January and February, with 8.6 and 9.3 l/m2 respectively, were dry

In the graph of evolution of the accumulated precipitation during the quarter in the Region of Murcia, it is observed that there are two significant precipitation periods, the first on January 9 and the second from February 8 to 11.

During this winter, precipitation greater than 70 l/m2 accumulated in the extreme west of the Region, with the highest accumulated precipitation, 86 l/m2, recorded in the Cañada de la Cruz station, Moratalla. Where less precipitation was observed was in the southwest of the Region, below 5 l/m2, as in Águilas, where only 4 l/m2 were recorded.

The maximum daily rainfall in the quarter, 18.0 l/m2, was recorded on February 11 in Cañada de la Cruz. The maximum accumulated in one hour was 6.6 l/m2 on January 19 in Yecla, as well as the maximum in ten minutes, 2.2 l/m2, in the same station. The rainfall was in the form of snow above 1200 meters on January 5, and on February 23, 24 and 26.

Analyzing the series of days of precipitation in the form of snow of the trimester December-February in the station of Cañada de la Cruz, Moratalla, at 1271 meters of altitude, it is observed that the days of snow in this winter, 4 days, have been below the average value, 8.6 days, for the reference period 1990/91-2019/20

During this quarter, only 2 storm days have been observed in the Region and a total of 3 discharges, two recorded on January 19 and one on February 10. The average value of the series for the winter is 6.3 storm days and 154 discharges.

March 2024 advance in the Region of Murcia

During the first days of March, both the maximum and minimum temperatures have recorded values close to normal, although with a brief episode of maximum temperatures above normal between days 4 and 7.

In the first ten of March there was an average rainfall in the Region of 6.5 liters per square meter (l/m2). With this accumulated, and if it did not rain more, the month would have a very dry character.

More than 10 l/m2 were accumulated in the region of the Altiplano, part of the region of Northwest and south coast of the Region, with the maximum accumulated precipitation in that ten 15 l/m2 , in Benizar, Moratalla.

There were two significant episodes of precipitation, the first on days 2 and 3, and the second and most important from 7 to 10, associated with the Monica fluff.

The precipitations were in the form of snow on day 3 and 9 in the upper districts of the Northwest region.

Hydrological year (1 October 2023 to 10 March 2024)

The rainfall collected between 1 October 2023 and 10 March 2024, 32 l/m2, represents 21% of the average value for the same period (152 mm), which means an extremely dry character, the driest in at least the last 63 years (since the hydrological year 1961-62), being lower than that of the years 1980-81, with 47 l/m2