Since June 6, almost uninterruptedly -on the 14th of that same month the trend was cut short by just one tenth-, in Barcelona every night they have reached or exceeded the 20ºC minimum temperature.
And these last two days, the thermometers have risen above 25ºC, reaffirming a cycle of nights of very intense heat that, between the thermal stress and the health consequences, it is becoming more normal among the inhabitants of any town on the coast and pre-coastal of Catalonia. Especially those who live in densely populated areas and who, consequently, live under the yoke of the effect ‘heat island‘, as is the case of the Catalan capital, where thermometers can rise between 3 and 8ºC at night compared to rural areas or areas with fewer buildings.
Thus, for a couple of years, the new summer vocabulary has adopted two new terms that have definitively taken root in the meteorological glossary: tropical nights and hot nights.
📝 Avui s’ha registrat the first #NitTòrrida de l’any (sense lower than 25 ºC) to #Barcelona – Can Bruixa, with a minimum temperature of 25.0 ºC.
🧐 The arrival has been advanced some 25 days since 1987, but still has been measured 26 days later than 2022. pic.twitter.com/lflRbMt91U
—Meteocat (@meteocat) July 11, 2023
The fact that thermometers rise to records that prevent the full night rest It is not a new concept, since reaching or exceeding a minimum temperature of 20 ºC is a value that the meteorological stations have been recording since the data was collected.
The difference in the last five years is that, leaving aside the record-breaking summer of 2003 and the very long heat wave of 2015 -26 days-, ha ceased to be a one-time event attached to some episode of intense heat to become a phenomenon whose main novelty is its extension. With few exceptions, it is registered throughout the summer and, increasingly, it begins earlier.
Faced with this situation, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia It has been in the position of reformulating its extreme heat risk warnings, including that of intense night heat.
📹 In this video I find all the information about night heat warnings 🌡🌙
I can also consult the lindars per municipality at 👉https://t.co/s2AJZJHR1a pic.twitter.com/9efLMAojd2—Meteocat (@meteocat) July 11, 2023
It will continue all summer
Despite the fact that this 2023 the heat episodes have started somewhat later than other years -due to a the rainiest and coolest month of May than the average, and that this has delayed the onset of especially hot nights-, June has meant a return to the trend of recent summers throughout the Catalan coast and pre-coast, as well as the regions of the Ebro valley. The 26 ºC registered on the night of this Wednesday in Torredembarra or the 29.1ºC of Torroella de Montgrí indicate that it is not only a phenomenon attached to the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
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Everything indicates that this scenario is likely to be perpetuated, at least until the end of the season, since the medium-term models highlight that, without reaching the extreme levels of 2022 -a year in which the Fabra Observatory recorded its second warmest August since 1914-, this 2023 will be between one and three degrees above the historical average throughout the strip of the Catalan coast and the south of the territory.
Bearing in mind that between July and August of last year, up to 35 torrid nights in Barcelonawe still have many early mornings of bad sleep in the coming months.