2009 is one of hottest years since 1850

THIS year will probably go down in history as one of the ten hottest on record since 1850, said the National Weather Agency (AEMET) yesterday.
Furthermore, said the agency, the quarter from September to November this year was registered as being particularly warm over most of Spain. On average, autumn temperatures were 1.7 degrees hotter than normal with the years ranging from 1971 to 2000 as a reference point.

Spokesman Angel Rivera said that the autumn of 2009 could become registered as the warmest since 1970, superseded only by the average temperatures of 1983 and 2006. He said that over most of Spain temperatures were between one and two degrees above average but there were points where they exceeded two degrees above average.

Rivera added that the September to November period in the Canary Islands was “particularly warm,” slightly more so than the Balearic Islands which he described as “warm” with temperatures a little less than one degree Centigrade above average.

He furthered that although September was the month where temperatures were the least “outside the norm” being only 0.6 degrees Centigrade above average, October was by contrast the “hottest autumn month in relative terms” because across the country as a whole, average temperatures were 2.4 degrees above normal. These figures make the month the fourth hottest October since 1971, said Rivera.

November, he said, was “equally hot” across most of the country and even “extremely hot” in vast swathes of the southeast. With average temperatures being registered at 2 degrees above normal, last month was the fifth hottest on record since 1971, superseded only by 1983, 1989, 1995 and 2006.

Apart from this last week, said Rivera, December is also turning out “hotter than normal” but warned that this coming Saturday night into Sunday conditions will be “very cold” in all areas.