Space Industry and Business News
WEATHER REPORT
Spain logs 'hottest spring on record'
Spain logs 'hottest spring on record'
By Alfons LUNA
Madrid (AFP) June 7, 2023

Spain has experienced its hottest spring in over 60 years of recordkeeping, with average temperatures almost two degrees Celsius above average, the national weather agency reported Wednesday.

The country also saw its second driest-ever spring on record, behind that of 1995, the AEMET agency said as a prolonged drought hits its key agricultural sector.

Spain, which had its hottest year on record in 2022, is expected to be one of the worst-hit EU countries in terms of climate change.

AEMET reported the average temperature was "14.2 degrees Celsius (57.5 degrees Fahrenheit), which was 1.8 C hotter" than normal.

That is "extremely hot, exceeding 1997 -- the hottest spring up to now -- by 0.3 C," it noted.

"The spring of 2023 was the hottest spring on record in Spain," AEMET reported, referring to a three-month period that began in March.

In late April, Spain suffered a major heatwave with local temperatures up to 20 C above average, exacerbating the drought.

May began with temperatures slightly higher than average which then dropped below the average in the second half of the month with heavy rainfall that has helped somewhat but not alleviated the drought.

"Until almost mid-May, there was no rain," said AEMET spokesman Ruben del Campo.

"With the rains in the second half of May, the situation has eased a little."

However, the drought, "which is measured over the longer term, has not been resolved," he said.

How long it would continue would depend on the levels of rainfall later in the year, he said.

"In this hydrological year so far, we've seen a 20 percent shortage in rainfall so for that to be resolved, it would need to rain 20 percent more (than usual) in autumn," he said.

- Hot and hotter -

In recent years, Spain has experienced more heatwaves and increasingly scarce and irregular rainfall.

Last year, AEMET forecasters recorded "35 days of record-breaking heat, when temperatures were above the seasonal average", del Campo said.

"That's one record every 10 days."

Spain recorded its driest start of the year since such records began in 1961, with the country receiving less than half the normal amount of rain during the first four months of 2023, AEMET said last month.

Experts say parts of Spain are their driest in 1,000 years, with the ongoing drought prompting some farmers to choose not to sow crops this year.

The lack of rainfall has been catastrophic for the agriculture sector in Spain, which is the world's biggest exporters of olive oil and the European Union's biggest producer of fruit and vegetables.

Spain's reservoirs, which store rainwater for use in drier months, remain at just under 50 percent of their capacity, well below the 10-year average of around 68 percent.

April's intense heat -- which engulfed the Iberian peninsula and parts of North Africa -- pushed temperatures to record highs, with the mercury hitting 38.8 C in southern Spain.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA), whose scientists study the link between extreme weather events and climate change, called the April heatwave "exceptional".

Looking ahead, AEMET said all indications suggested that summer 2023 would also be hotter than normal.

"There is a high probability of a hotter-than-normal summer in the whole country," it warned, although del Campo said it was "unlikely" to beat the heat of summer 2022.

al/hmw/ds/jmm

APRIL

Related Links
Weather News at TerraDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WEATHER REPORT
Bangladesh shuts schools, cuts power in longest heatwave in decades
Dhaka (AFP) June 7, 2023
Bangladesh has shut thousands of schools as it struggles through its lengthiest heatwave in half a century, with widespread power cuts only compounding locals' misery. Temperatures in the South Asian nation's capital of Dhaka have surged to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the poor bearing the brunt of the blazing sun. "We have never seen such a prolonged heatwave since Bangladesh's independence in 1971," said Bazlur Rashid, a senior official at the Bangladesh Meteorologi ... read more

WEATHER REPORT
Liquid shock absorbers in football helmets could reduce impact on brains

Rio Tinto to spend $1.1 bn to expand Quebec low-carbon smelter

Ubisoft teases VR version of hit game 'Assassin's Creed'

Meta's Zuckerberg shakes off Apple Vision Pro: report

WEATHER REPORT
OneWeb and Eutelsat demonstrate global connectivity solution to NATO

Viasat selected by AFRL to deliver space relay communications for multi-orbit mission

SES delivers satellite connectivity to AWS Modular Data Center for DoD

Accenture invests in SpiderOak to elevate satellite communications security in space

WEATHER REPORT
WEATHER REPORT
Galileo Second Generation enters full development phase

Royal navy tests quantum sensor for future navigation systems

GPS tracking reveals how a female baboon stopped using urban space after giving birth

Value of Chinese satellite navigation system increases as service expands

WEATHER REPORT
How Raytheon Technologies is engineering sustainable flight

A step toward safe and reliable autopilots for flying

Megawatt electrical motor designed by MIT engineers could help electrify aviation

Air force chief appointed chairman of Ethiopian Airlines

WEATHER REPORT
Beyond Liquid Crystal is DARPA's next mission for tunable opticals

Electron spin measured for the first time

First steps towards realizing mechanical qubits

Stretchable semiconductors harness molecular light brakes

WEATHER REPORT
Sidus to launch LizzieSat with Edge AI, hyperspectral and multispectral imaging

Harris announces $100M initiative to fight climate change, arms smuggling in Caribbean

Sovereignty fears delay Pacific-Australia security pacts

China releases 5-meter-resolution broadband multi-spectral satellite dataset

WEATHER REPORT
The Vietnamese octogenarian fighting for Agent Orange victims

Toxic smoke dissipates over northeastern US

Canada fires trigger air quality alerts for 100 mn in US: govt

Smoke from Canadian wildfires cloaks eastern US with haze

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.