Spain records hottest year on record in 2022
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“Abnormally warm” yet wet weather have been forecast over the Christmas weekend by Spain’s state meteorological agency (AEMET), with no sign of frost in mountainous areas and no forecast of snowfall, even in the Pyrenees.
Minimum temperatures will be around 5C above normal and the maximum temperatures will be between 3-5C above the usual for this time of year, the agency revealed.
“Temperatures will be very balmy for the season and we will experience a slight rise between Friday December 23rd and Monday December 26th, with the southern Mediterranean and even the Cantabrian Sea exceeding 20C, but it seems that they may drop on Tuesday,” spokesperson for AEMET Rubén Del Campo said.
Navidades más templadas de lo normal: el índice EFI del @ECMWF, señala que las temperaturas de los próximos quince días (hasta el 6 de enero) serán inusualmente altas no solo en España, sino también en buena parte del continente europeo. pic.twitter.com/Z6TWAfZBCw
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) December 23, 2022
The mercury will be highest on Christmas Eve December 24th.
Madrid will see a minimum of 8C and a maximum of 13C on Christmas Eve and 8C/14C on Christmas Day.
In Seville, there will be a minimum of 10C and a maximum of 16C on Christmas Eve, but it will shoot up to 22C on Christmas Day.
In A Coruña in Galicia, temperatures will be between 13C and 16C on both days, while in Barcelona it will be between 12C and 20C.
Bilbao will experience between 13C and 20C, Palma de Mallorca between 13C and 21C. In Tenerife and Las Palmas, a minimum of between 17C and 18C and a maximum of 25C are expected.
The higher temperatures are due to an anticyclone coming up from North Africa, AEMET explained.
As well as the warm weather, Christmas week will also bring rain, particularly in the north of the country.
Galicia will see strong and persistent rain from Friday, December 23rd, from where it will spread across Asturias, León, Zamora, north of Cáceres and south of Salamanca, although with less intensity. Fog is forecast for the mornings, but generally clear skies during the days.
Rain is only forecast for northeastern Spain on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
While in the Canary Islands, there is expected to be an isolated depression of cold air which will cause stormy conditions and heavy rain. Most of the rain is expected to fall on the westernmost islands late on Christmas Day itself.
From Monday, December 26th, experts predict it will start to get cooler again, but with more rain forecast for the rest of the week. Monday and Tuesday, December 27th will see rain mostly across the northwest and north of the country.
Predicting the weather for New Year’s Eve is “very complicated,” Del Campo added but did say that temperatures would likely rise again from January 2nd to the 8th, particularly on the Atlantic Coast and in the south, just in time for Three Kings’ Day.