Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN’S autumn will be warmer than usual this year.
It comes after a scorching summer which saw temperature records broken in Madrid and Andalucia as the mercury rose well into the upper 40s.
Temperatures in the ‘fall’ are expected to be between 0.2 C and 0.5 C above average, and 1.5 C above average in the south.
There will also not be sufficient rain to compensate for the serious drought that is affecting most of the country.
Ana Casals, a spokeswoman for Aemet, said October temperatures between 1°C and 1.5°C above average are expected in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and between 0.5°C and 1°C higher than average in the rest of the country.
November has an average temperature of 9.9°C, with warm weather expected across the south and Andalucia.
A third of the annual rainfall normally comes in the fall, but forecasters are predicting an ‘October with less rainfall,’ especially in Extremadura and Andalucia.
However some forecasts show ‘more rain during November and December’ for almost all of Spain, with greater intensity in the northern Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.
Rosemary Botey, head of climatology at Aemet, explains that summer rains have not compensated for the accumulated deficit in the hydrological year (October 1-September 30), which is currently at slightly above 12%.
