Waiting for autumn in Spain? Thursday hits 37ºC and the warmth holds into October

Jumpers and jeans are at the ready, fans are slowly being put away in cupboards, and you’re starting to look forward to that first proper autumn morning. But then Thursday turns up at 37ºC in some parts of Spain, and the state forecasters have the country staying warmer than normal until at least October 11.

Thursday is the hottest day of the week

The heat builds through the middle of the week, and Thursday September 24 is the peak, with Córdoba and Badajoz both forecast to reach 37ºC. Sevilla sits just behind on 36ºC, while Toledo, Ciudad Real and Cáceres are looking at 35ºC, and Madrid, Jaén, Lleida, Zaragoza and Ourense all reach 34ºC.

It starts before that, though. Ourense and Badajoz are expected to pass 36ºC on Tuesday, with Sevilla, Córdoba and Cáceres around 35ºC, and by Wednesday Sevilla and Córdoba join Badajoz at the 36ºC mark. 

Spain’s state weather agency (AEMET) has called the week a full summer week, and there’s no rain in it at all beyond the odd bit of drizzle near Melilla and the Strait of Gibraltar. Yellow heat warnings are in place in Cataluña and Galicia, with a separate coastal warning for Cádiz, a far quieter picture than the weekend just gone when orange storm warnings covered Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and the Balearic Islands.

Autumn officially begins at 1.05am on Wednesday

Autumn officially arrives in Spain at 1.05am on Wednesday September 23, according to the National Astronomical Observatory, and runs for 89 days and 21 hours until winter starts on December 21. 

That’s the calendar’s version, but the thermometers tell a different story, with temperatures running 5 to 10ºC above average across most of the country and as much as 15ºC above in spots in the northern half.

The reason is a large area of high pressure settling over the peninsula and blocking the polar troughs that would normally start pulling cooler, wetter air down at this point in September.

Why it’s called the veranillo de San Miguel

Spain has a name for exactly this phenomenon. The veranillo de San Miguel (St Michael’s little summer) is a spell of settled, sunny weather that turns up around the saint’s day on September 29, and it’s the ‘Spanish cousin’ of the Indian summer.

It’s a bit of fun Spanish folklore, and nobody in Extremadura or the Guadalquivir valley is most likely shocked to see 36ºC in the last week of September. After a relentless summer full of heatwaves, plenty of people have been quietly telling themselves ‘it has to break soon’ since the end of August, but the forecast keeps saying otherwise. 

The nights aren’t cooling down either

Nine cities are also in line for tropical nights, where the temperature never drops below 20ºC, with minimums of 21 to 23ºC expected in Almería, Málaga, Cádiz, Sevilla, Cáceres, Barcelona, Palma, Tarragona and Alicante.

In the Canary Islands it’s warmer still, with lows staying above 25ºC in places. So if you’ve been waiting for the bedroom to cool down enough to switch the fan off at night, you may have to wait a little longer before putting it away.

The warm run stretches to October 11

AEMET’s outlook for the three weeks from September 21 to October 11 keeps temperatures above normal throughout. Rain is scarce this week with clear skies expected until at least Friday September 25, the following week carries no clear rain signal, and the week of October 5 to 11 is forecast to be drier than usual on the Atlantic side of the country.

Anyone keeping one eye on Britain is watching the exact opposite happen. The Met Office has Atlantic systems bringing rain, showers and occasional strong winds from Friday September 25 into early October, with the wettest weather in the north and west, then deeper areas of low pressure and very strong winds after that.

So if you’ve been holding off on the jumpers, the heating or the long walk that needs a cool morning, the forecast says you’ve got until October at the earliest. AEMET refreshes that three-week outlook every Thursday, and this week’s update is the first realistic chance of a different answer.