Wet spring gives way to hot summer

PALMA
AN extremely wet, humid spring is giving way to a hotter than average summer. That was the message from the Spanish met office yesterday.
This summer - which officially got under way at 1.59 this morning - will be between half a degree and a degree warmer than average, according to the met office's predictions. “During the heat wave of 2003 the temperature was about two to three degrees higher than average,” said Fermin Elizaga, head of the forecast section at the Spanish met office, “which means that this year will be slightly warmer with an average of 37 degrees in the south and between 30 and 32 degrees in the east.”.

He added that this weekend - especially today - we should expect quite high temperatures.

WET SPRING

Meanwhile, Angel Rivera, also of the met office, said that it had been the wettest spring since 1930 in Spain.
During the whole of spring, rainfall was about 50 percent higher than usual.
During the three months of the season there were, on average, 90 litres persquare metres of rain. In April and May, average rainfall was 73 percent and 80 percent higher than usual.

This means that the deficit in the reservoirs owing to the lack of rain during autumn and winter has been significantly reduced.
Rivera added that the spring was warm with an average temperature of 13.7 degrees throughout the country. It was especially warm in the Balearics and the east of the mainland, according to Rivera.

In Malaga, it was the third warmest spring since 1971, with an average of 17.8 degrees.
In Alicante, it was the fourth warmest spring in 37 years with an average of 17.5 degrees.

WARM APRIL

The warmest month relatively was April with temperatures 1.5 degrees warmer than average.
The fourth month of the year was described by Rivera as being “very warm” in most of Spain's regions but particularly along the Mediterranean coast.
It was also “very humid” in practically the whole of the Atlantic coast and Cantabria, as well as the Ebro basin.
And “extremely humid” in Asturias, the eastern half of Castile and Leon, La Rioja and Alava in the Basque Country.