22/09/2013 00:00
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NEXT Tuesday will see the official end of Summer 2003, the hottest ever recorded in the Balearics. It hasn't been the hottest in terms of specific points of high temperature, but the season has registered consistently high levels over a period of more than two months. This September has seen weather patterns return to normal after the extreme, uncharacteristic temperatures of June, July and August.
August was the most sweltering the Islands have ever recorded.
Taking the weather station at Portopí as a reference point, its average temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius exceeds the historic average for the month by 4.2 degrees. To have nearly 30 degrees as an average temperature, is, in itself, extraordinary.
The only reading that approaches its extreme is the average temperature of August 1994 which registered 29.9 degrees. The difference of 1.5 degrees is considerable. It is relevant to note that the third hottest month on record was July this year, with an average of 27.8 degrees, only a tenth of a point less than August 1994. Palma had temperatures higher than 30 degrees every day this August, something which had never happened before.
Apart from this, no month in the recorded meteorological history of the Balearics is reported as sustaining a temperature equal to this for more than thirty days. It has only been approached, once again, by August 1994, the second hottest month in Balearic history, which registered 27 days with temperatures over 30 degrees.
SINGLE DAY
At other meteorological stations, Palma's record was only matched or superceded on a single day, specifically 1 August, and even then only by a few tenths of a point. For example, in Minorca, Port de Pollensa and Portocolom, the first day of August registerd maximum temperatures of 29.4, 29.4 and 28.7 degrees, respectively. They only reached 30 degrees for a very short while. In any event, record maximum levels were broken at all these stations for the number of days showing more than 30 degrees of heat in August.
The average temperature of last July was 27.8 degrees in Portopí, 2.9 higher than the historic average.
The month was also a record in Palma in terms of temperatures exceeding 30 degrees for 24 days.
At the same meteorological station, and in yet another extraordinary abnormality, the average temperature levels in June this year registered 26.2 degrees, 4.4 higher than the historic average for the month. June in Palma this year experienced 14 days with temperatures over 30 degrees, surpassed only, curiously enough, by June of the previous year which recorded 15 days of more than 30 degrees.
SEPTEMBER
Temperatures this September in Portopí are only out of character by some 0.4 points, that is to say 24 degrees against an historic average of 23.6 degrees. At last, the Islands would appear to be subject to temperatures “in line” with historical averages.