Catalonia is on the way to stop having the Mediterranean climate we knew. Global warming and the alteration of weather patterns have led the territory to experience conditions increasingly similar to those of North Africa, with extreme temperatures that break historical records and a profound change in its climatic landscape.
This is explained in the Butlletí Anual d’Indicadors Climàtics 2024, a report by the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (SMC) that confirms a sustained warming in Catalonia since 1950 that is bringing Catalonia’s climate closer to that of North Africa.
The climate is “shifting”: Tarragona’s heat, in Figueres
An example of this is Figueres. Located more than 200 kilometers north of Reus, the city of Girona today has climatic conditions similar to those of the capital of Baix Camp in 1950. This reveals how the temperate Mediterranean climate is transforming into a more subtropical and dry climate, typical of desert and semi-desert areas.
The year 2024 was the third warmest year on record, with a thermal anomaly of +2.2 ºC compared to the period 1961-1990, only surpassed by 2022 and 2023.
This implies that summers become very hot, with the maximum daytime temperature rising faster than the minimum nighttime temperature, which aggravates the heat sensation and the impact of extreme waves. Winter 2023-2024 was the warmest winter on record, with peaks of up to +3.5°C in February. This change also translates into increasingly frequent tropical nights, even in autumn, and local records such as the 40.0 ºC reached at the Observatori Fabra, which is 100 years old.
This also implies an increase in water temperature, with a 0.35ºC rise per decade in the Mediterranean. Regarding rainfall, although the four-year drought is over, the long-term trend continues to show a slight reduction in annual precipitation, and the decrease in summer and winter maintains the pressure on ecosystems and water reserves.
Catalonia prepares for a week of 40ºC
With the arrival of summer, Catalonia is facing these days a heat wave that will take the thermometers up to 38 degrees in points of Lleida and minimums of 20 degrees on the coast, increasing the tropical nights.
In addition, according to Meteocat, heavy torrential rains are expected in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees, in regions such as Berguedà, Ripollès and Osona, due to a Dana that brings hot air and Saharan dust from Portugal.
According to Meteocat, the week begins with temperatures of 27 degrees in Barcelona and 35 in Lleida, and the extreme heat will remain for several days, exceeding 35 degrees and even touching 40 in Lleida and Tarragona. Barcelona will also suffer highs above 30 degrees, while the wave of tropical nights will persist until the weekend.