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Date Published: 04/01/2023

ARCHIVED - January heat records smashed across Spain and Europe

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

Several regions in Spain, the UK and the rest of Europe have reported their hottest January ever

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - January heat records smashed across Spain and Europe

Just a few days ago, meteorologists confirmed that 2022 was the hottest year in history in Spain and the new year has begun along the same vein, with several regions reporting January temperatures that are more usually seen in July.

The phenomenon isn’t confined to the Mediterranean though as most of Europe is basking in winter sunshine since the 1st, and at least eight other countries including Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic have recorded their hottest January day ever.

Across in the UK, around seven spots in southern England reported their warmest ever New Year’s Eve and December was the only month of 2022 that wasn’t hotter than average.

Meteorologist Scott Duncan described the high temperatures throughout Europe as “staggering”: “We had a very warm new year last year but this blows that out of the water,” he said. “We observed longstanding records broken by large margins across several countries.”

The experts attribute the soaring temperatures to a warm west African air mass that spread across Europe from Spain and Portugal. On the Spanish mainland, historical records were blown out of the water on New Year’s Day, when Bilbao in the north reached a sweltering 24.9ºC and summer temperatures were also enjoyed in Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country.

This unseasonable weather is set to continue well into January, with areas of the Mediterranean coast of Spain still hovering above 20ºC this week.

However, what’s good news for beachgoers isn’t necessarily good for the climate, and the fact that the global temperature has warmed by about 1.1ºC since the industrial era began points to more extreme weather events to come.

Hotter summers and shorter, drier winters wreak havoc for the agricultural sector and intense heatwaves kill thousands of people worldwide each year.

Prof Bill McGuire believes that our warming atmosphere and oceans will result in more records being broken unless more is done to reduce emissions and slow climate change.

“The most worrying thing about this is that – such is the speed of global heating – it simply isn’t a surprise any longer,” he said. “It is a small glimpse of a future that will see winter reduced to a couple of months of dreary, damp, and mild weather, with little in the way of frost, ice or snow.”

Join our Spain Weather Watch Facebook group for regular weather insights

Image: Pixabay

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