Extreme Dryness and Heat Mark April in Spain as Climate Balance Reveals Record Averages
Last April proved to be extremely dry and hot, marking the warmest April in Spain since the start of the historical record in 1961. The average temperature hovered around 14.9 degrees Celsius, about 3 degrees above the long-term average for the month.
According to the climate balance published by the Meteorology Institute (Aemet) on Monday, many April days saw daily maximum values about 4.7 degrees above normal. Minimums were roughly 1.3 degrees above average, while the day-to-day swing ran approximately 3.4 degrees higher than the monthly norm.
Across the network of base stations, the mean temperature for around thirty sites reached the highest April on record, and the average of daily maximums across forty-five stations was the highest in the April series. The mean of minimum temperatures also stood out as the highest since observations began.
Throughout the month, thermal anomalies reached as high as 4 degrees Celsius, with pockets in the interior of Andalusia, eastern Extremadura, and the southwest of Castilla-La Mancha reporting even 5-degree departures from typical values.
In the southern half of the peninsula, as well as the Cantabrian mountain range, the Ebro valley and southern Castilla y León, anomalies generally hovered around 3 degrees. In much of the peninsula, values were close to 2 degrees, with the eastern Cantabrian Sea and the coasts of Catalonia and the Valencian Community showing around 1 degree departures. Elsewhere, anomalies ranged from near 0 to 2 degrees in the Balearic Islands, while the Canary Islands recorded 1 to 3 degree deviations.
Among the principal observatories, notable high readings included Córdoba airport at 38.8 degrees, Morón de la Frontera at 37.4 degrees, Granada airport at 36.9 degrees, and Seville airport with similar levels, all measured during peak hours.
On the cooler side, the lowest values appeared in the early days of the month. Molina de Aragón registered -8.1 degrees on the 5th, Burgos airport -6.9 degrees on the 5th, and -5.2 degrees in other sites around the same period. Valladolid airport also recorded a low, with Puerto de Navacerrada showing -4.6 degrees on the 13th. Burgos airport stood out as the site with the lowest April minimum since the start of the series, recording -5 degrees on that day.
Precipitation painted a stark picture of dryness. The peninsula averaged only 14.2 liters per square meter, about 22% of the normal value for this period (reference: 1991-2020), making April the driest in the historical record dating back to 1961. The driest regions stretched across the mainland, with the island of Ibiza and parts of western the Canary Islands also reporting extreme aridity. Some areas such as Galicia, northern Catalonia, portions of Castilla y León, northern Navarra, and coastal Murcia experienced a range from dry to near normal, while the eastern Canary Islands showed similar patterns of reduced rainfall.
Highest daily rainfall readings at major observatories included Santiago de Compostela airport with 57.8 liters on the 22nd, Hondarribia Malkarroa with 35.2 liters on the 12th, Vigo airport with 31.8 liters, and Pontevedra with 26.2 liters on the 13th. In terms of monthly totals, Hondarribia Malkarroa stood out with 116.3 liters, followed by Santiago de Compostela airport with 103.4 liters and Vigo airport with 101.6 liters.
These findings come from Aemet’s ongoing climate balance, which aggregates measurements from a wide network of stations and base observatories. The agency notes that the record-keeping provides a robust picture of how seasonal patterns are shifting and how daily extremes cluster around new highs and lows. Attribution for these trends is associated with broader patterns in atmospheric circulation and regional moisture dynamics as described in recent climate assessments [Aemet attribution note].