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Old August 21st 11, 09:59 PM posted to uk.sci.weather
Gavino Gavino is offline
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First recorded activity by Weather-Banter: Dec 2009
Posts: 236
Default Very hot day in Spain - more to come

"Gavino" wrote in message
...
Today (Fri 19th) was very hot across most of mainland Spain, with
temperatures over 35C across large parts of the country. Hottest maxima
were in the SW, where Sevilla (Seville) and others recorded 42C.


Sevilla followed that with a *minimum* of 29C on Saturday morning (which
means that for most of the night, temperatures were over 30C).

Tomorrow (Sat 20th), the heat is expected to move to the NE, with Zaragoza
forecast to hit a max of 41C. Some all-time records for this part of the
country could be broken.


In the event, Zaragoza did reach 41C, but was still beaten by Sevilla which
again reached 42C.
Although such hot weather is less common in NE Spain, I'm not aware of any
records being broken.

Today (Sunday), while Zaragoza still reached 39C, and parts of Mallorca
(Majorca) recorded 40C, Sevilla had a much cooler day at 29C max.

This was because a mass of colder air at altitude brought cloud, rain and
thunderstorms to western and central Spain.
You probably saw reports of the Pope's open-air gathering in Madrid on
Saturday night being interrupted by wind and rain.
This followed a baking hot day in the capital (39C), during which thousands
of pilgrims (reports say up to a million) had assembled without shade at the
aptly named Cuatro Vientos (Four Winds) airfield on the southern outskirts
of the city. Soon after the pontiff began to speak (now after nightfall),
the heavens opened (divine providence?), and he was forced to cut short his
address. Several marquees were blown down, and between the earlier heat and
the later storms, about 2500 people required medical treatment.

While the heat continues in the NE, the storms are expected to affect mostly
NW Spain tomorrow (Mon) before heading out to the Bay of Biscay (and
possibly towards the UK).