In Spain, in recent times, records are being broken practically in every season of the year. During the spring that we just passed mean values have been higher than usual since 1965, which was when the AEMET began to have unified records for the entire country. This phenomenon has been linked to the global warming that we are experiencing.
Since that year, Spain has not experienced such a hot spring as in 2017. But we not only have to talk about high temperatures, but also a reduction in rainfall of up to 23%. As a consequence, the summer could be quite difficult in some places, especially where it does not rain at all or at all during that season.
Spring temperatures 2017
Image - AEMET
From March 1 to May 31, the average temperature was 1,7 degrees Celsius higher from the average taking the years 1981-2010 as a reference period; that is, it was 15,4°C. This value is 0,06°C higher than the previous highest value, reached in 2011. If you talk about how heat affects animals, you can see the specific effects that have been studied in these years, as mentioned in this investigation.
In terms of areas, AEMET highlights that it was especially warm in Navarre, Aragon, inland Andalusia, the Basque Country, Castile and Leon, and La Rioja; warm in the rest of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, and very warm to extremely warm in the Canary Islands. In addition, some of the temperature records highest in the country's history, reflecting the contrast with data from previous years.
The highest temperatures were reached in Orense (37,6ºC) on May 24, in Granada airport (37ºC) on May 25, Bilbao (36,4ºC) on May 25, in Lanzarote airport (36,1ºC) on April 17 and in Gran Canaria (34,2ºC) also on April 17. This increase is a clear indication that future springs could follow this trend.
Spring 2017 rainfall
Image - AEMET
During last spring 133 liters per square meter fell on average, which represents a 23% reduction. Even so, March was very wet with 29% more precipitation, but April was extremely dry with 60% less rain than usual, and May saw 23% less. This irregular rainfall pattern is worrying considering the impact of the drought which can affect agriculture and water supply.
It was just a wet season in southwestern Andalusia and the southeastern Valencian Community. To better understand how spring could be affected in the coming years, we recommend reading about future predictions in this area, which can help anticipate the challenges we will face.
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