Last month was the hottest July since records began in Spain

The heat wave caused in July by the presence of an Atlantic anticyclone, which displaced a mass of very warm African air over the mainland and the Balearics, seems to be the reason for the extremely high temperatures in almost the entire country that raised the average for July, while in the Canary Islands there were two heat waves.

This wave, which affected the mainland and the Balearics between July 9 and 29, was “the most important since records have been kept, as it was the most intense, the most extensive and the second longest in the series” after the one suffered in 2015 (26 days), according to the Aemet.

It was also the most extensive along with that of August 2012, affecting forty provinces, and the most intense as the thermal anomaly was 4.8 ºC, “far exceeding” the heat wave of August last year, which until now had been the most intense with average temperatures for July 2022 even higher (0.2 ºC higher) than July 2015, which until now was the warmest month in Spain since the records began 61 years ago.

Daily maximum temperatures were on average 3.3 °C above normal, while minimum temperatures were 2.2 °C above the average, “resulting in a daily temperature variation 1.1 °C above normal for the month”, explained Aemet.

July 2022 was also the ninth driest July since data has been available and the driest for the past fifteen years.