Spain will experience a taste of autumn on Thursday and Friday due to the arrival of an “unusually cold” air mass for this time of year. This will have a greater impact on the Balearic Islands and large areas of the northern peninsula. The air mass, described as polar in meteorological terms, is expected to bring rain to the Cantabrian coast and the Pyrenees, where the first snowfall of the season is expected. There will also be frost in these and other mountainous areas. However, this will only be a brief encounter with autumn, as temperatures are expected to recover over the weekend.
Temperatures in the northern and Cantabrian regions have been low since Tuesday, with moist north winds keeping conditions cool. The following days will see even lower temperatures, especially in the Ebro Valley. Thursday and Friday will bring even colder temperatures, with maximum and minimum temperatures being “unusual” for this time of year, particularly in the northeast. Despite the cold, it is unlikely that temperature records will be broken. The coldest days of the week will be Thursday and Friday, with Saturday being the coldest night. The autumnal weather will require warming up in many northern, central, and Balearic regions, as temperatures will drop below 10°C.
On Thursday, an unusually cold air mass will arrive in Spain, with the greatest impact expected in the northern peninsula and the Balearic Islands. By Saturday, the cold air mass will retreat, and higher than normal temperatures will prevail, especially in western Spain. The spokesperson for Aemet states that on Thursday, temperatures will tend to increase in the southern and southeastern regions, with little change in the Canary Islands and decreases in the rest of Spain and the Balearic Islands. The anomaly in temperature will be most pronounced in the north, with temperatures 5-10°C below normal.
Friday will see a change in wind direction, with temperatures dropping significantly in areas where they had risen the day before, such as Murcia and the interior of Valencia, where temperatures could drop by 8-10°C. Minimum temperatures will range from 5-9°C in northern provincial capitals, while daytime temperatures will also be cool. Only seven southern capitals will reach or exceed 30°C, indicating the persistence of summer. The cold anomaly will extend from the north and center to the borders of Andalusia and move down the eastern coast to reach Málaga, with some areas experiencing temperatures 10-15°C below normal.
The cold air mass will begin to retreat on Saturday, ushering in a return to higher than normal temperatures, especially in western Spain. Temperatures will recover rapidly over the weekend, with a noticeable increase of up to 6°C in the northern half of the country. While temperatures will still be cold in certain regions on Saturday, by Sunday, they will continue to rise. The transition from cold to warmer temperatures will be swift and marked, signaling the end of the brief flirtation with autumn in Spain.
